AT&T T-Mobile Merger: AT&T Blames T-Mobile Layoffs On FCC [AT&T Points Out That The 2,000 People Laid Off By T-Mobile Would Still Have Jobs If US Government Approved Acquisition]

The FCC?s decision to block the AT&T-T-Mobile acquisition was a major blow to AT&T. Not only did they spend a fortune on lawyers and lobbyists as they prepared the deal, but they also reportedly had to pay a $2 billion ?breakup fee? to T-Mobile after the deal was canceled. The breakup of the deal hit AT&T so hard, the company?s board of directors decided to severely cut the pay of some of AT&T?s top executives. Now that T-Mobile is cutting some 2,000 jobs, AT&T is taking the chance to blame the FCC.

You may also find these recent news items of interest:

No New webOS Phones In 2012 As HP Layoffs webOS Team?

iPhone 5 To Have Bigger Screen?

Homeless Hotspot Program In Austin Draws Criticism

Yesterday, it was reported across the web that T-Mobile had decided to close seven customer service call centers around the United States, reporting in about 2,000 people losing their jobs. As mentioned, AT&T didn?t let the pitch go by on this one when they had a chance to blame the government for blocking their $39 billion bid for the company.

In a blog post published on AT&T?s Public Policy blog, AT&T Senior Executive VP Jim Cicconi blasted the FCC, saying, ?Rarely are a regulatory agency?s predictive judgments proven so wrong so fast.? Cicconi explained that ?AT&T promised to preserve these very same call centers and jobs if our merger was approved. We also predicted that if the merger failed, T-Mobile would be forced into major layoffs,? and added ?So what?s the lesson here? For one thing, it?s a reminder of why ?regulatory humility? should be more than a slogan. The FCC may consider itself an expert agency on telecom, but it is not omniscient. And when it ventures far afield from technical issues, and into judgments about employment or predictions about business decisions, it has often been wildly wrong.?

Cicconi closed his blog post with this damning line, ?One must approach them not as an exercise of power but instead of responsibility, because, as I learned in my years of public service, the price of a bad decision is too often paid by someone else.?

In addition to promising to preserve T-Mobile jobs, AT&T also added other perks to the acquisition should the government had approved it, including bringing 500 customer support service jobs back from India to Utah. Credit: Source.

Source: http://nexus404.com/Blog/2012/03/23/att-t-mobile-merger-att-blames-t-mobile-layoffs-on-fcc-att-points-out-that-the-2000-people-laid-off-by-t-mobile-would-still-have-jobs-if-us-government-approved-acquisition/

ronnie montrose marshawn lynch earthquake bay area deron williams clear channel drexel dale