WASHINGTON-Thursday was merger approval day at the Department of Justice, as Verizon Communications Inc. received the OK to proceed with its plans to acquire MCI Inc. and SBC Communications Inc. received the nod to move forward with its plans to buy AT&T Inc.
The Federal Communications Commission is scheduled today to vote on the Verizon-MCI deal, while the Commission’s review of the SBC-AT&T deal is pending but will likely take place soon. For both deals, the majority of state-level reviews and subsequent approvals have been completed.
Both mergers are expected to close by the end of this year.
“We appreciate the hard work of the Department of Justice staff in bringing this merger to resolution,” said John Thorne, senior vice president and deputy general counsel at Verizon. “The consent decree will result in no disruption to MCI customers. We are eager to begin offering the benefits of this new combination to customers as soon as possible.”
In the case of the Verizon-MCI merger, the DOJ filed a consent decree for approval by a federal court that included stipulations agreed to by Verizon and MCI. Under the decree, Verizon and MCI will lease unused fiber connections to 356 buildings in several states in Verizon’s footprint along the East Coast. MCI’s fiber will not be affected.
“The Justice Department has a comprehensive view of the state of the communications industry, and its decision reflects a fair and impartial determination that, with these narrowly tailored conditions, the merger of SBC and AT&T will not harm competition,” said James Ellis, senior executive vice president and general counsel at SBC. “We applaud the DOJ staff for conducting such a thorough analysis and for recognizing the competitive nature of today’s marketplace in reaching its decision.”
SBC and AT&T have agreed to provide access to certain buildings in SBC’s operating territory where AT&T has fiber and where the two companies are the only providers with facilities serving those buildings.
