WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission said it would judge AT&T’s proposed purchase of airwaves from Qualcomm alongside the carrier’s bid to acquire T-Mobile.
The reviews are to be conducted “in a coordinated manner,” the FCC said in a Monday letter to AT&T and Qualcomm. The agency said it may consider the deals separately later.
AT&T in December agreed to pay $1.93 billion for airwaves covering 300 million people from chipmaker Qualcomm, which acquired the spectrum in federal auctions from 2003 through 2008 for a mobile-television service it has closed.
Dallas-based AT&T in March proposed buying Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile in a $39 billion deal that would join the second- and fourth-largest wireless carriers. The transaction needs approval from the FCC and the Justice Department.
“The FCC should approve the pending AT&T-Qualcomm spectrum sale now because of the clear benefits to the public from the sale (that are) totally unrelated to the proposed AT&T-T-Mobile merger,” Dean Brenner, vice president of government affairs for San Diego-based Qualcomm, said in an e-mail.
The airwaves sale would provide more spectrum for wireless high- speed Internet service, Brenner said.
Rival phone carriers and consumer groups in April asked the FCC to tie the reviews. The deals may have a cumulative effect on competition and consumer welfare, wireless provider Sprint Nextel and the Rural Cellular Association said in a filing.
Buying the spectrum “is critical” to help AT&T meet “burgeoning demand” for wireless Internet service as consumers increasingly adopt tablet computers and smartphones, AT&T and Qualcomm said in a March 21 FCC filing. The airwaves purchase won’t diminish competition, the companies said in the filing.
