Gigabyte March on Washington

With the potential of AT&T going after Qwest after BellSouth, Verizon needs to hedge its territory or face a potential cutoff to the west coast and higher connection fees.  Story on Light Reading

The Miami Herald is reporting that BellSouth shareholders are voicing their opinions as well, as they begin suit to stop the AT&T merger for too low a price and lack of competitve bids.

Hastert Lobbies for Google

Joshua Hastert, son of Speaker Dennis Hastert, is lobbying for Google Inc. on issues of Internet access, privacy, compensation, and issues relating to China. The Year-End Report for the lobbying firm PodestaMattoon listed Joshua Hastert as one of seven lobbyists working for their client Google Inc. PodestaMattoon reported it received $40,000 for lobbying work for Google Inc. in the last six months of 2005.

Source: PolicticalMoneyOnline®

Oh, ok, like this REALLY comes as a big surprise?

This is just what may have happened in 1997 when SBC wanted to buy AT&T and
BellSouth was in the mix then and in 2001 dropped it.

So the question is, what is different now than in 1997 and 2001, as to let
these mergers go through when back then it was not approved?

SBC/AT&T 1997 Merger - Bizjournal  - AT&T and BellSouth - 2001 - Businessweek 

Do you really think AT&T's divestures of its cable and wireless units were not a grand plan to make the future mergers easier? This was a setup in the making for many years, in just that the 1997 attempt to merge was a "test" to see who were friends or foes in Washington. When they found the foe, they bought their friends in the next election.

It will be interesting to see what happens when the FCC begins reviewing the reported and alleged merger of the AT&T/BellSouth deal. As it may be a much different Commission body with the hopes of Robert McDowell's confirmation by the Senate.

Mr. McDowell is a telecom lawyer who currently serves as assistant general counsel at Comptel and opponent of the AT&T and Verizon mergers last year. Mr. McDowell is scheduled to appear before a Senate committee on Thursday for his confirmation and is likely to be asked aboutthe merger.

It will be also interesting to see how Chairman Martin handles Mr. McDowell. Although he is a Republican, his nomination to the FCC was not welcomed bythe Bell companies. Martin may have a tougher go at it this time without having any leverage over Commissioner Copps' job to hang over his head and Commissioner Adelstein losing an ally. Perhaps Martin's whipping days are numbered in making partisan rulings?

As you may remember, Commissioner Copps' reappointment was still in the air when the FCC pushed the SBC/AT&T - Verizon/MCI mergers through, with really no enforceable conditions. Both Copps and Adelstein where in a tough position when they gave in the on DSL changes in hopes of getting tougher conditions on the pending mergers.

Well that backfired, and hopefully with jobs secured for a while and a potential ally in the making, they may be willing to push Martin's back against the wall. It will also be interesting to see what newly appointed Commissioner Deborah Tate will swing on this.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that -  

Final terms of the deal could not be learned Saturday evening, but these people said AT&T Inc. would pay a premium for BellSouth shares of at least 15%, valuing the company at $36 per share at least, up from its trading price Friday of $31.46. That would push the total equity value of the deal to at least $65 billion, plus the assumption of an additional $17 billion of BellSouth debt.

Spokespeople for BellSouth and AT&T declined to comment.