AT&T/BellSouth Merger Comments Are In and...

We've reviewed the comments filed Monday in the FCC's AT&T/BellSouth merger docket. The sparse number of comments filed by carriers one would typically expect to see reflects not only how much the industry has consolidated in the last 5 years, but also reflects the feeling of inevitability that the merger will be approved, as well as exhaustion among players.

The more interesting comments, filed by Clearwire and Sprint Nextel and other wireless players, discuss the combined company's warehousing of spectrum and the significant weight that the new post-merger AT&T Wireless (the company is dumping the Cingular brand) will carry in the marketplace. We're betting that any conditions placed on the merger by the FCC will be focused more on wireless concerns and less on issues of the traditional wireline carriers.