As anticipated, the European Commission on Monday approved Google's $12.5 billion buyout of Motorola. The approval was without conditions after the EU body decided that it wouldn't hurt smartphone competition or patent issues. Commissioner Joaquin Almunia was aware there was a chance Google might abuse patents to shelter Android, but he promised legal action if that was the case.
Two insiders claimed Friday that the European Commission was likely to approve Google's acquisition of Motorola. In sync with talk of a likely US approval, Reuters understood that the EU regulatory body would greenlight the deal in "unconditional" form. The EC had reportedly decided that the takeover wouldn't be anti-competitive.
The Department of Justice is leaning towards approving Google's takeover of Motorola, insiders leaked Wednesday. It wasn't clear what the motivating reasons were in the Wall Street Journal tip, but the approval could be publicized as soon as next week. Regulators would mostly be watching to see if Google abused the patents it would get with Motorola to attack competitors.
Signs that Apple and Google are honoring laws barring no-poaching deals may have surfaced this weekend after new tips that Google had hired away one of Apple's veterans. VentureBeat understood that Simon Prakash, Apple's senior director for product integrity, had been hired away to work on a "secret project." He would reportedly start on Monday.
AT&T following a promise it made as a condition of its since-dropped takeover of T-Mobile has jointly filed with T-Mobile to transfer some of its wireless spectrum. The deal will give about $1 billion in frequency licenses to T-Mobile in accordance with terms AT&T agreed to in the even the deal failed. T-Mobile is expected to use the space to fill out coverage and overcome a deficit it has relative to other major US carriers.
Newly publicized evidence in the wake of an agreement to stop no-poaching deals among Silicon Valley technology companies has shown that several firms did ultimately have deals but stopped short of colluding on a larger level. Although short on details of the supposed Apple-Google agreement, an e-mail message from Adobe Senior VP of human resources Theresa Townsley confirmed that Adobe and Apple had an informal rule against hiring each other's staff. At least in 2005, Adobe chief Bruce Chizen and Apple's Steve Jobs had blocked attempts to get each other's staff.
AT&T on Tuesday formally completed its purchase of Qualcomm airwaves. The $1.9 billion deal gives it access to 700MHz frequencies it will use to boost the coverage for its LTE-based 4G network. The extra spectrum's reach is wide enough to cover nearly all of the US, at 300 million potential users.
The Federal Communications Commission has quickly acted on its promise to reexamine AT&T's purchase of Qualcomm spectrum by approving the deal on Thursday. A three-to-one vote will give AT&T the 700MHz frequencies that Qualcomm was using on its short-lived Flo TV service. AT&T will primarily have to guarantee against interference and allow roaming from phones and tablets on rival networks.
The Department of Justice on Tuesday said it was investigating Verizon's plans to buy cable companies' wireless spectrum. The agency was investigating whether or not taking the usually 1,700MHz space from Bright House, Comcast, Cox, and Time Warner Cable raised competitive problems. Officials are reportedly concerned that the deal amounted to collusion rather than fostering competition.
AT&T on Monday said it planned to drop its attempt to buy T-Mobile. Citing opposition from the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission, it decided to enter a "mutually beneficial" roaming deal with T-Mobile to share each other's capacity. AT&T would pay its promised $4 billion in combined breakup fees to T-Mobile in response to the failed deal.
AT&T isn't making any progress in its attempts to sell T-Mobile assets to rescue its attempted buyout of T-Mobile, insiders uncovered Sunday. Discussions with smaller carriers have reportedly "gone cold," the Wall Street Journal heard. Among other problems, attempts to sell assets to Leap for its Cricket service fell as doubts existed that even this could salvage AT&T's proposed T-Mobile merger.
C Spire and Sprint together were granted motions on Tuesday to freeze their lawsuits against AT&T over its proposed takeover of T-Mobile. Filed in tandem with AT&T, they agreed to stop in the wake of the Department of Justice staying its case. The two CDMA carriers implied they would resume action if AT&T tried restarting the takeover process.
AT&T and T-Mobile together asked the judge in the Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit to stay the process until January 18. The two, supported by the DOJ itself, wanted time to "evaluate all options," the carriers said in a statement. It hinted that no option was off the table, including either major concessions or leaving it unchanged in what would likely be a decision to exit the deal altogether.
The FCC on Friday posted that it had restarted the informal shot clock for approval of AT&T's buying Qualcomm's 700MHz spectrum. Retroactively applying the start to November 29, the federal agency expects to decide within 180 days whether or not it approves the handover. Most expect the AT&T to clear the deal given that Qualcomm wouldn't be using the spectrum following the end to its MediaFLO TV service.
AT&T's stopped buyout of T-Mobile was hurt by relying on its own usual government lobbying tactics, an exposé revealed Friday. Government regulators and politicians grew alarmed, not reassured, when AT&T began pushing hundreds of non-technology organizations to endorse the merger, the Washington Post learned from interviews. They interpreted the unusually vocal support, which usually came from groups that took AT&T contributions, as a sign AT&T didn't believe it could get approval on merits.
The Department of Justice will file a motion with a federal judge to postpone its anti-competition case against AT&T's proposed buyout of rival T-Mobile. The filing will be made next week, The Wall Street Journal reported. Joseph Wayland, the lawyer, said the hastened court proceedings are not needed because the companies involved pulled their FCC merger application.
Despite strong opposition from US regulators, AT&T CFO John Stephens asserted that the carrier will keep trying with its proposed acquisition of T-Mobile. At the UBS media conference just held in New York City, he insisted that the carrier would "continue to move forward" in spite of the Department of Justice lawsuit and withdrawing the FCC application. To prepare for the closing of the $39 billion T-Mobile deal, AT&T revealed it plans to use $10 billion cash it has accumulated on its balance sheet.
Sprint and AT&T's dispute over the former company's proposed buyout of T-Mobile will be put on the backburner while the Department of Justice finishes up its investigation of the deal. The companies revealed in separate filings in a US District Court in Washington that they don't want to interfere with the government trial, which is scheduled for February 13. Both Sprint and Cellular South requested a trial date is set immediately after all the evidence is presented in the government case so their arguments can be heard before the transaction is completed.
AT&T has raised the idea with T-Mobile's parent Deutsche Telekom of a network joint venture if the now doubtful T-Mobile merger isn't approved, insiders divulged Wednesday. The two are purportedly in early talks that the Wall Street Journal understood would see them share parts of each other's network, even as they ran separate competitive businesses. The deal is considered a "back burner" option but was gaining momentum as resistance grew to the merger.
The FCC during a conference call Tuesday cleared AT&T's withdrawal of its application for the T-Mobile merger. It countered AT&T's claims to a 'right' to withdraw with the assertion that the agency had the option to keep the application intact. FCC officials had decided to let AT&T back out because it would be "unfair" to everyone involved, the regulator said during the call.
Coming with unusual timing, a claim late Friday had AT&T planning a last-ditch proposal to try and clear the T-Mobile merger. Under the proposal to the Department of Justice mentioned to Bloomberg, AT&T would divest as much as 40 percent of T-Mobile's assets. The figure would be the most AT&T could offer under the terms of the merger before it would have to pay the same fee it would if the merger was rejected outright.
AT&T general counsel Wayne Watts warned the FCC that the carrier might sue if it wasn't allowed to withdraw its T-Mobile merger application. Reacting to the FCC saying only that it would "consider" allowing the withdrawal, Watts argued that the FCC "has no right to stop us" and that it would be an "abuse of procedure" if the FCC didn't allow it. The company would take any dispute to court, he said.
The Department of Justice, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have swung into a major anti-piracy campaign after they seized 131 domain names, TorrentFreak learned. The sites are believed to sell, host and/or share pirated content, but the seizures can be appealed. The seizures were part of an official Operation In Out Sites crackdown, the largest such operation to date.
AT&T and T-Mobile have withdrawn their application to the FCC for their planned merger. Following the FCC’s decision to conduct a hearing on the validity of the proposed merger, the two companies have switched their focus to gaining approval from the Department of Justice. AT&T has also indicated it expects to book a pretax $4 billion charge in the fourth quarter for a break-up fee to T-Mobile should the deal fall through.
The FCC during a call Tuesday said it would conduct a hearing on the validity of AT&T's proposed buyout of T-Mobile. Its agenda would follow after the conclusion of the Department of Justice lawsuit, if it doesn't block the merger, and would be conducted as a "trial-type" case. Opponents like Sprint could participate, and sides would have to bring witnesses as well as carry supportable evidence, the FCC said.
The US Department of Justice has reportedly received permission to share internal AT&T documents with outside parties. The ruling essentially enables government lawyers to establish a deeper level of collaboration with civilian consultants and outside lawyers in its lawsuit aiming to block AT&T's proposed acquisition of T-Mobile.
Another discovered document in Barnes & Noble's antitrust claims against Microsoft made to the Department of Justice has found that Microsoft is trying to build a defense by making Google provide details of its strategy. A motion to compel, dated October 4 but only found Thursday, would ask to get Google's vital business analysis for Android, including how it saw Microsoft's patent licensing scheme hurting Android, its current abilities as a PC platform, and how it saw Microsoft-made platforms like Windows Phone. Since Google led the Android Open Source Project, it would have to have opinions on Microsoft's impact, the motion read.
China's biggest fixed-line provider, China Telecom, plans to launch cellphone service in the US early next year, its Americas president Donald Tan said in an interview. He told Bloomberg the carrier will do so under its own brand and be unique in that it will offer two lines, one for the US and another for China. The ideal customer would be a Chinese-American, but it would also include students and tourists who travel often between the US and China.
Barnes & Noble has quietly taken its allegations of Microsoft antitrust abuse to a formal level, according to newly-publicized documents. The company is now known to have sent a letter to the Department of Justice's chief competition counsel Gene Kimmelman on October 17 claiming that Microsoft's anti-Android patent licensing campaign was meant to artificially "drive out competition" and make companies choose Windows-based platforms. It contended that Microsoft's lawsuit against Barnes & Noble, Foxconn, and Inventec was more to silence competition from the Nook and other devices than any attempt to protect claimed innovations.
AT&T claimed a minor victory after a rare weekend ruling saw Sprint required to hand over requested documents where Apple played a large role. Judge Levie claimed it was "entitled" to know what Sprint's iPhone 4S deal and other recent additions would do to its market share as part of its defense against the Department of Justice's antitrust case blocking the T-Mobile merger. Levie further chastised Sprint for those documents it had already given, noting that they were over half a year old.
AT&T retaliated against Sprint's attempt to get corporate documents in a Department of Justice lawsuit on Wednesday through a court request that would potentially force Sprint hand over its own information. The larger carrier's motion to compel would require that Sprint hand over documents on 47 areas explaining how it planned to compete whether or not AT&T's merger with T-Mobile was approved. The request would ask for some of Sprint's most confidential information, including possible discussion of a Sprint buyout of T-Mobile should AT&T be rejected.
AT&T on Friday asked the judge in the Sprint lawsuit against the T-Mobile deal to force Sprint to hand over documents it was seeking for its defense. The carrier claimed that Sprint hadn't answered a subpoena from September 26 for documents it hoped would help formulate a defense. The files covered relationships with companies Sprint had bought, such as Nextel and Virgin Mobile, as well as its partnership with Clearwire.
FCC Wireless Bureau leader Rick Kaplan cast further doubt on AT&T's attempted buyout of T-Mobile with a statement that rejected AT&T's view the merger would create jobs. Documents submitted by the carrier so far have so far given "almost nothing in response" to calls for proof, the division head explained to The Hill. AT&T has argued that it would lead to as many as 96,000 jobs, but hasn't exactly how that would happen beyond putting 5,000 low-level call center jobs back onshore.
A well-known dispute resolution expert was chosen to head up the antitrust case regarding the AT&T buyout of T-Mobile, said a Thursday report. The choice, Richard Levie, is a former District of Columbia Superior Court judge and an experienced mediator and arbitrator. The Justice Department and the providers chose him to fill the role of the special master.
AT&T on Friday motioned to dismiss the lawsuits of both Sprint and Cellular South attempting to block its merger with T-Mobile. The carrier giant cited lack of standing, or that it wasn't a valid plaintiff, for claimed bias. As a carrier, it couldn't claim to "wrap itself in the cloak" of the public's interest since it had a clear competitive incentive to block the deal, AT&T said.
Google's Senior VP in charge of the takeover of Motorola, Dennis Woodside, posted Wednesday that the Department of Justice had asked a second time for information on the $12.5 billion dollar deal. What that entailed wasn't mentioned. Woodside minimized the significance of the second request and was confident the buyout would still go through.
Google late Tuesday filed a motion asking US District Judge Ellen Huvelle to keep confidential Android details in the DOJ lawsuit over the AT&T merger. It was concerned that AT&T, T-Mobile, or the DOJ might reveal "competitively sensitive" detals, such as when new versions of Android or devices might ship. The filing seen by Bloomberg showed Google worried that the media or a rival like Apple would get information without Google knowing it would be made public.
The Department of Justice lawsuit against the proposed AT&T buyout of T-Mobile has finally received a solid schedule, with trial proceedings to officially begin on February 13. Judge Ellen Huvelle allocated six weeks for the trial, however lawyers representing both sides reportedly claimed that such a length would not prove necessary.
The US Justice Department will not reveal to US lawmakers why it has chosen to challenge AT&T's purchase of T-Mobile. According to a Tuesday report, the Justice Department sent a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Chairman, Fred Upton, on Monday that stated it couldn't reveal information regarding live litigation that's not public. The Justice Department filed a lawsuit at the end of August to block the buyout as it would raise prices and hamper both competition and innovation.
Opposition to AT&T's proposed takeover of T-Mobile galvanized Monday after Cellular South sued AT&T to stop the deal. The dispute contends that the merger would "substantially lessen competition" and put too much power in the hands of the top two US carriers, AT&T and Verizon. In a statement, it shared Sprint's view that the deal would hurt access to the best devices, hike prices, and hurt roaming deals.
AT&T is now talking directly with MetroPCS and Cricket's parent company Leap in an attempt to save its now seriously threatened buyout of T-Mobile, a pair of sources divulged Monday. The carrier is hoping to sell customer bases and wireless spectrum licenses to its smaller sometime-competitors in hopes of reaching a settlement, Bloomberg said. Bank of America is being tapped specifically to help negotiate the deal.
Resistance to AT&T's proposed buyout of T-Mobile grew on Friday after seven states joined the Department of Justice lawsuit aiming to block the deal. California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington all supported the view that the merger would reduce competition. DOJ officials were "pleased" at the support and reiterated its view that the deal would hurt the US.
Fifteen Democrat members of the House of Representatives have sent a letter asking President Obama to find a quick resolution to the Department of Justice lawsuit against AT&T's proposed T-Mobile buyout. The group, headed by North Carolina Representative Heath Shuler, argues that a settlement and approval of the deal will have a positive effect on the economy and job creation.
A federal judge has reportedly scheduled a status conference for the Department of Justice lawsuit against AT&T and T-Mobile. All parties have been asked to be prepared to "discuss the prospects for settlement" at the hearing, which is slated for September 21, while a case management and scheduling plan must be presented by September 16.
Sprint decided to seize the opportunity of the DOJ lawsuit against AT&T and T-Mobile on Tuesday by suing the two carriers itself. The DC-based lawsuit accuses the rival carriers of violating Section 7 in the Clayton Antitrust Act. A merger would "entrench the duopoly control" of AT&T and Verizon, Sprint said, giving them over three quarters of the cellphone market.
T-Mobile may lose its multi-billion dollar break-up fee if its purchase by AT&T is successfully blocked by the Department of Justice, according to a new report. AT&T was to pay T-Mobile $3 billion in cash and another $3 billion comprised of the estimated value of certain spectrum and a national roaming agreement. The break-up fee is in real danger of collapsing if certain conditions aren’t met, and T-Mobile could be left with nothing to walk away with.
AT&T is willing to make massive concessions to preserve its buyout of T-Mobile in the light of a Department of Justice lawsuit blocking the deal, insiders claimed late Thursday. Described as a "two-track" plan, the strategy seen by Reuters would see AT&T give up as much as a quarter of T-Mobile's business, including some of the spectrum it was after, customers in key areas, and a pledge to keep T-Mobile's cheaper pricing active. It's "pretty determined" to find a sacrifice that would let it clinch the deal, one tip mentioned, as it wants to avoid court at all costs.
Sprint went on the offensive Thursday and endorsed a study (below) challenging AT&T's claims that buying T-Mobile would create jobs. The 'independent' study, handled by UC Irvine Economics professor and Center for Economics and Public Policy director David Neumark, rejected the idea that the capital investments made by AT&T would lead to more jobs after a merger. Neumark claimed that too much of AT&T's argument centered on the $8 billion it would invest into the combined network, which depended mostly on the assumption that T-Mobile would spend less than that amount on its network.
The FCC on Wednesday asked AT&T for evidence to justify its view that its $39 billion buyout of T-Mobile was necessary for its LTE network. Following an inadvertent leak by AT&T's lawyers that revealed it only needed $3.8 billion to reach its touted 95 to 97 percent coverage of the US population, agency officials wanted to know what the T-Mobile merger would do that the much cheaper proposal would not. Concerns exist that AT&T is using rural 4G expansion as a pretext for an ultimate goal of eliminating a major competitor.
AT&T on Thursday accidentally posted a filing (since pulled, available below) that called into doubt one of the core arguments for its buyout of T-Mobile. While it has publicly said it could only get to 97 percent coverage of the US population with LTE by spending $39 billion to buy T-Mobile, an estimate included in the document instead showed that it would only need $3.8 billion in network expenses to go beyond the 80 percent it wanted otherwise. Senior management claimed that the deal would let it "better absorb the increased capital investment," according to AT&T counsel Richard Rosen, but couldn't explain why spending ten times more on a T-Mobile deal made this sound.
