AT&T Hopes that You Believe Them
Today the Federal Communications Commission received an avalanche of public comments from consumers opposed to AT&T's bid to takeover T-Mobile. Over 28,000 consumers have weighed in so far, nearly all against this proposed transaction.
The Commission also received several "Petitions to Deny" the merger, including one from Sprint.
This morning's Wall Street Journal took note of the growing opposition to the T-Mobile takeover in a story which ran on the front page of the Marketplace section. The story clearly angered AT&T's top lobbyist, Jim Cicconi, who claimed to the Journal that support for the deal is growing.
AT&T hopes you believe that. That's why Cicconi penned this blog post saying that support is growing.
The problem is, no one believes it. Reporters I work with tell me that they see AT&T's support for what it is -- nothing that is truly coming from real grassroots.
Reporters just don't believe Jim Cicconi or AT&T. Neither do members of Congress.
Just look at this photo I shot of Congresswoman Maxine Waters during the Congressional testimony of AT&T's CEO Randall Stephenson and Deutsche Telecom's CEO Rene Oberman.
I don't recall exactly what they were saying when I took the photo during the hearing, but if you could see my face right now, my expression would be a lot like the Congresswoman's.
Over the coming days, I will try to highlight some of the other petitions to deny that the FCC has received, I will also try to explain some of the arguments in our pleading which asks the FCC to block the takeover of T-Mobile.
But for now, I'm heading home.
But stay tuned for more details about why we think the FCC and the DOJ must block AT&T from gobbling up T-Mobile.
