AT&T today officially confirmed what so many had expected for some time now: the carrier will be throttling select users’ unlimited data plans. The move, which takes effect on October 1st, is a response to a “serious wireless spectrum crunch,” according to a message issued today. The changes will not affect most customers, according to the company, primarily targeting those who fall within the top five percent of heavy users in a given billing cycle. Once the new period begins, speeds will be restored. Even with this new plan in place, however, the company says that the spectrum problems still won’t be resolved — it does have a simple solution, however, explaining that “nothing short of completing the T-Mobile merger will provide additional spectrum capacity to address these near term challenges.”
A handful of AT&T’s customers are now fighting against its planned acquisition of T-Mobile. Law firm Bursor & Fisher filed lawsuits against AT&T on behalf of 11 AT&T subscribers in an effort to block the merger, AllThingsD reported on Friday. The lawyers have created a pitch site titled FightTheMerger.com and argue that The Clayton Antitrust Act gives “anyone who may be affected by a proposed merger” the power to sue in a federal court. “Government enforcement is an important part of the antitrust laws, but the Clayton Act also permits private parties who may be adversely affected to challenge a proposed merger,” one of the lawyers, Scott Bursor, said. “That means any AT&T cellphone, data or iPad customer who will suffer higher prices and diminished service because of this merger can sue to stop it from happening.” Reportedly, the AT&T customer agreement contract blocks customers from filing class-action lawsuits against the carrier. Bursor & Fisher says subscribers can instead file arbitration suits and argues that section 2.2 of AT&T’s customer agreement says customers could win a $10,000 payment. On Wednesday, Senate Antitrust Subcommittee chairman Herb Kohl asked the FCC and the Justice Department to block the merger. AT&T responded immediately and reaffirmed in its second-quarter earnings that the merger is on schedule for closure during the first quarter of 2011.
Sprint has received subpoenas from Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington regarding its opposition of AT&T’s planned $39 billion T-Mobile USA acquisition, Reuters reported on Tuesday. The U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division also issued a subpoena. Sprint has been a staunch opponent of the deal and its CEO Dan Hesse has said the acquisition will “stifle innovation” in the U.S. wireless market. He also said that “clearly, purely, [Sprint wants] to win and block the merger,” when it was revealed that Hesse was working with 18 state regulators to block the acquisition. The deal is getting an in-depth investigation from both the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission. On June 22nd, AT&T’s General Counsel Wayne Watts said that the acquisition was on schedule for approval in March of next year. An AT&T spokesperson told Reuters that AT&T also received the same nine subpoenas.
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