Judge grants stay in antitrust case as AT&T rethinks T-Mobile deal

Dec. 12, 2011 11:53 AM PT

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U.S. District Ellen Segal Huvelle on Monday granted a stay in the government’s antitrust lawsuit that is seeking to block AT&T Inc.’s $39-billion purchase of T-Mobile USA.

The move to postpone pre-trial activity until mid-January came after AT&T and Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile’s German parent, joined the Justice Department in asking for the stay earlier in the day. The companies said Monday they were ‘actively considering whether and how to revise’ the telecommunications deal. A trial in the case had been scheduled for February.

Huvelle’s order said the companies must provide by Jan. 12 a report ‘describing the status of their proposed transaction, including discussion of whether they intend to proceed with the transaction at issue in this litigation, [and] whether they intend to proceed with another transaction.’

AT&T and Deutsche Telekom also must provide their plans to seek regulatory approval from the Federal Communications Commission. Huvelle will hold a hearing on the case six days later.

AT&T had withdrawn its application with the FCC after the agency’s staff issued a report last month that found the deal was not in the public interest. The Justice Department cited that withdrawal in a hearing on Friday, arguing that the lawsuit no longer needed to be expedited. The antitrust case is scheduled for a February trial.

AT&T and Deutsche Telekom said they asked for the stay ‘to evaluate all options.’

Public Knowledge, a consumer advocacy group that opposes the deal, said AT&T and Deutsche Telekom should pull the plug.

‘We hope that AT&T will take the contemplative time over the holidays to realize that it should now call the transaction to an orderly halt,’ said Harold Feld, the group’s legal director. ‘It is time for AT&T to end this now and save everyone a lot of time and money for a case it cannot win.’

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AT&T fires back at FCC report criticizing T-Mobile deal

-- Jim Puzzanghera in Washington

Money & Company

Jim Puzzanghera

Jim Puzzanghera covered business and economic issues from the Los Angeles Times’ Washington, D.C., bureau. He joined The Times in 2006 and won the paper’s Editor’s Award in 2009 for coverage of the financial crisis. He has worked in the nation’s capital since 1998 and is a two-time National Press Club award winner for Washington coverage. A Northwestern University graduate, he previously worked for the San Jose Mercury News, Newsday and the St. Petersburg Times. He left The Times in 2019.