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AT&T rubs salt in T-Mobile's wound after layoff announcement, slams FCC

AT&T rubs salt in T-Mobile's wound after layoff announcement, slams FCC

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AT&T has blasted the FCC today for failing to approve its acquisition of T-Mobile USA after T-Mobile's announcement of layoffs earlier in the week.

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AT&T officers
AT&T officers

AT&T has shown an enormous amount of swagger throughout the entire story arc of its merger attempt with T-Mobile USA, much of which has come directly from the mouth and pen of Jim Cicconi, AT&T's EVP of external and legislative affairs (pictured above, far right); it got to the point during the merger proceedings, in fact, that the FCC said it was "deeply concerned."

But today's comments by Cicconi on AT&T's Public Policy Blog regarding T-Mobile's announced layoffs border on the bizarre, saying that "normally, we'd not comment on something like this" but that "AT&T promised to preserve these very same call centers and jobs if our merger was approved." The entire piece sounds like he's quite literally lecturing the FCC's commissioners, reminding them that "decisions have consequences" and that T-Mobile's layoffs didn't have to happen if only they had elected to allow the merger to proceed.

To use the layoffs as an opportunity to chide the government at T-Mobile's expense seems in poor taste at best — particularly since the deal is completely dead in the water and AT&T has nothing to gain. Might today's post warrant another public admonishment from the FCC?