WASHINGTON-The leading association of competitive landline carriers told the Federal Communications Commission that wireless consumers will see an annual increase of $2.7 billion if the merger between Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and AT&T Wireless Services Inc. is approved.
“The merger of Cingular and AWS will cause prices of both wireless and landline telephony services to rise because of the enhanced market power that will be wielded by the combined wireless company and its majority owners,” said CompTel/Ascent. “Importantly post-merger, the Cingular/AWS merger will place an astounding 70 percent of all wireless subscribers in the hands of monopoly landline carriers Verizon Communications Inc., BellSouth Corp. and SBC Communications Inc.
Cingular, which is owned by BellSouth and SBC, said earlier this year it wanted to buy AWS for $41 billion. The deal is awaiting regulatory approval from the FCC and the Department of Justice.
FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy said Thursday that consideration of the merger had not yet reached the commissioner level. Once it does, which she expected by the end of this week, she said it will take weeks but not months for the FCC to reach a decision.
Comptel/Ascent said if the FCC is serious about intermodal competition, it must put conditions on the Cingular/AWS merger.
Abernathy in her press briefing said she was not sure that an analysis of landline competition and an analysis of a merger between two wireless companies were the same.
“When you are doing a complex economic analysis about whether or not that level of competition is enough when you are measuring a merger to prevent anti-competitive acts, and that is what I have to hear from the economists about and when they are doing the Cingular merger is it a factor, or are they just looking at wireless,” said Abernathy. “Whether we like it or not, it is a different test about how, when and how you control a market vs. what is triggered by Department of Justice concerns, or antitrust concerns or merger concerns. They are just two different analyses.”
