AT&T/T-Mobile Proposed Merger Faces Another Road Block

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski has recommended that the FCC Commissioners send the proposal to an agency judge for a hearing. This type of referral is generally reserved for proposed mergers that do not demonstrate that they are in the public interest. The hearing is essentially an internal trial within the agency. Many believe that the act of referring a proposed merger such as this to an agency hearing is akin to sending the message that the merger should not be approved. It also provides the proponent of the merger the opportunity to gracefully withdraw its proposal. Such was the case for the last FCC hearing referral in 2002 when the FCC challenged Echostar's proposal to acquire competitor Direc TV. Echostar withdrew its proposed acquisition upon referral to the agency hearing. While AT&T seems to want to continue to press on, it faces significant hurdles including an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Justice Department which is scheduled for trial for February, 2012.

BlackBerries and RIM continue to dominate iPhone and Android in the workplace

A recent survey conducted by Forrester Research confirmed that BlackBerry continues to dominate the iPhone and Android in market share in the workplace. The respective market shares for BlackBerry, iPhone and Android are: 42%, 22% and 26%. While iPhone and Android have made impressive gains in market share since each were introduced, BlackBerry still dominates by an overwhelming amount. Why? Well in my experience, BlackBerries just work. Historically, BlackBerries have not been as flashy as the iPhone or Android, but they are no doubt much better suited for the business world. However, the latest BlackBerries to be released with OS 7 are a major improvement to the overall BlackBerry user interface. Look no further than the new BlackBerry Bold (9930).

Obama Administration Accused of Attempting to Change Testimony of Gen. William Shelton

Gen. William Shelton, a four-star Air Force general who oversees Air Force Space Command, told a group of lawmakers and staff during a classified briefing that the Obama Administration tried to convince Gen. Shelton to alter his testimony in an apparent attempt to soften the Pentagons position concerning the existing LightSquared proceeding before the FCC. Some argue that this was an attempt to help LightSquared, a company which is owned by investment fund operator and Democratic donor, Philip Falcone, complete the review process. A link to the full story can be found here

LightSquared's FCC Application Update

LightSquared, one of the newest wireless communications providers on the scene, proposes to implement a $14 billion network of 40,000 wireless communications base stations covering approximately 260 million people in the United States by the year 2015. LightSquared has received preliminary approval from the FCC, but has now hit a potential road block in the review process. Some, such as Deere and Co., claim that the the proposed system proposed to be utilized by LightSquared will cause “severe harm to critical high precision applications" including numerous applications that rely upon GPS services. Certain manufacturers claim that LightSquared will interfere with GPS navigation used by planes, automobiles, boats and tractors. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have also provided testimony claiming that LightSquared's signal may disrupt certain terrestrial electronic devices that read data from GPS systems. LightSquared persuasively argues that it can remedy any potential interference issues by ensuring that is base stations are located far from any agricultural GPS receivers in remote areas. LightSquared has also agreed to work to develop filters for GPS receivers to effectively filter out the LightSquared signals. The FCC is currently exploring potential mitigative measures that would allow both LightSquared and the GPS systems to coexist without substantial interference. More information about LightSquared and its objectives can be found at its website: www.lightsquared.com.

Huge Blow to AT&T Proposed Merger with T-Mobile

Department of Justice Sues to Block AT&T Merger with T-Mobile

The US Department of Justice filed a federal action on August 30, 2011 in a recent attempt to block the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger currently pending before the Federal Communications Commission.

AT&T released a statement in which is promised to

vigorously contest this matter in court.

I find that highly unlikely. I believe that AT&T and T-Mobile will do almost anything to restructure the deal to appease the Justice Department. AT&T needs this merger to enable it to compete with Verizon Wireless and its LTE (i.e. 4G) service being rolled out in more markets each and every day.