Light Reading reports that AT&T has filed a complaint with the FCC, alleging that the Sprint/Clearwire deal should be declined. That’s right, you heard correctly. An incumbent, which enjoys monopoly status in half the country and which has brought the entire USA telecom industry into a near duopoly alongside Verizon via massive M&A’s, is complaining that two challengers are reducing competition in a WiMAX industry that doesn’t even exist yet. Well, I suppose you could argue that WiMAX would compete with other technologies, but of course AT&T is at the same time seeking all sorts of regulatory relief on the grounds that there is plenty of competition without WiMAX even in it.
That takes some serious chutzpah. Of course, they don’t really expect to stop the merger, this is just a chess move designed to wheedle better treatment out of the FCC on other issues coming up this year.
AT&T dimisses WiMax, so why are they concerned?