AT&T Chatting Up Smaller Rivals About Asset Sales in an Effort to Save T-Mobile Merger
In the latest twist of the now saga otherwise known as the pending AT&T and T-Mobile merger, Bloomberg reports that AT&T has been chatting up its smaller rivals in an effort to save the merger. The talks, being described as “preliminary” discussions, involve AT&T selling off some of their assets, namely their spectrum and subscribers assets, to appease the Department of Justice (DOJ). The DOJ recently sued AT&T on August 31st in an effort to block their acquisition of T-Mobile. Reportedly, AT&T has already approached Metro PCS, Leap Wireless, Dish Network, CenturyLink, and Sprint.
Everyone involved is staying rather quiet about the current discussions, and we’ll be interested to see how everything unfolds in the coming days. Regardless, the preliminary discussions are still in their early stages, and may not even lead to a deal. Even if AT&T does succeed in selling off some assets, the DOJ may simply see the effort as futile. At this point the future of the pending merger still remains unknown.
Sure this is what we need more of. Companies merging together so there are fewer of them meaning less competition. Next thing you’ll know there will only be two of them and they’ll be integrated together by some loophole.