At&t, Antitrust | featured news

Google once was seen as such a ripe target for investigation that the nation’s antitrust enforcers battled over the right to claim it as their own, as a potential high-tech pelt to be posted on the wall alongside Microsoft and AT&T.

AT&T and T-Mobile on Monday asked a federal judge to postpone an antitrust lawsuit as the companies were assessing “whether and how” to proceed with their $39 billion mega-merger. The announcement signals that the deal as originally conceived is all but dead. The two companies could still seek ways to retool the terms to address the concerns of regulators.

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission will request an administrative hearing on the proposed $39 billion acquisition... The decision by the chairman, Julius Genachowski, puts a second large roadblock in front of AT&T, the nation’s second-largest wireless phone company, in its effort to buy T-Mobile, the No. 4 carrier. In August, the Justice Department filed a federal antitrust lawsuit to block the merger, saying it would stifle competition.

Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris and six other state attorneys general join the Justice Department's antitrust suit, say the deal would result in less competition in the wireless market.

Sen. Al Franken (D., Minn.), is urging regulators to reject the pending AT&T’s merger, joining the Senate’s antitrust chair and other lawmakers in what may be a growing legislative backlash against the deal.