A Coalition of Former AT&T Partners Files FCC Claim to Deny DirecTV Acquisition

A Coalition of Former AT&T Partners Files FCC Claim to Deny DirecTV Acquisition

The Minority Cellular Partners Coalition provides first-hand accounts questioning the business practices of the wireless giant

WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than ninety former business partners of AT&T joined together to demand that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) deny AT&T's application to acquire DirecTV. On behalf of these individuals, the Minority Cellular Partners Coalition filed official comments with the FCC in opposition to the acquisition and citing specific anecdotes of AT&T's violation of fiduciary duty, anti-competitive behavior, and questionable business practices.

The Coalition's filing is publicly available on the FCC's website and can be viewed here. It includes claims - based on first-hand accounts - of AT&T violating its fiduciary duty to these former business partners, consolidating wireless spectrum with the intent of reducing competition, and transferring spectrum licenses without prior FCC consent. It is on this past behavior that the Coalition bases its request that the FCC deny AT&T's application to acquire DirecTV.

"The FCC has repeatedly recognized the self-evident proposition that an entity's past behavior is the best predictor of its future behavior," said David Cripps - a former executive committee member of the Sarasota, Florida AT&T partnership. "Based on my experience, I believe AT&T has a hidden, self-serving agenda in their business engagements and a disregard for the impact that might have on the general public. In my opinion, if this acquisition is approved, DirectTV and its customers will lose in the end."

The Coalition's filing specifically claims that AT&T had a concerted strategy to gain full control of the partnerships' spectrum - spectrum the FCC originally denied to a dominant carrier in order to promote competition and diversity of ownership. However, subsequent to that decision, the Coalition claims AT&T spent over a decade undermining the FCC - which the Coalition believes to speak not only to AT&T's character but also to their unrelenting efforts to consolidate spectrum and reduce competition for the American public.

Former AT&T partner Joe Carcione concluded, "AT&T made a mockery of its fiduciary duty to its partners, but what's worse is that they stamped out competition in the process. We lost and the American people lost. AT&T wants more and more spectrum but we hope the Commission votes for more competition not more consolidation."



A summary of the Coalition's filing can be viewed here.

Contact: Trey Hardin


(202) 879-9387



SOURCE Minority Cellular Partners Coalition

Minority Cellular Partners Coalition


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