AT&T Plays Offense and Defense in Pushing for DirecTV Deal Approval
AT&T is pressing the FCC to approve its proposed DirecTV buy, according to pleadings filed in docket 14-90. AT&T officials "encouraged the commission to move the AT&T/DirecTV transaction expeditiously to a vote," said an AT&T ex parte filing posted Friday.…
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AT&T also pushed back against a submission by New America’s Open Technology Institute (OTI) that the telco said seeks "interconnection conditions that are unrelated" to the DirecTV deal. "OTI falsely claims that Internet speed data from Measurement Lab (“M-Lab”) show that AT&T has caused congestion at its interconnections with other ISPs and transit providers that can only be remedied by regulating interconnection rates," AT&T said in another ex parte filing. AT&T said the market is "producing well-considered, commercial agreements that provide for expanding capacity" while balancing industry responsibilities in delivering "a high-quality experience for consumers." AT&T noted it has reached recent interconnection agreements with Cogent and Level 3. AT&T said "such commercial solutions are exactly what the commission had in mind when it refrained from direct regulation of interconnection in the Open Internet order." AT&T also made a filing answering FCC questions about the details of its planned fiber deployments, noting its fiber-to-the-premises footprint will include a total of 11.7 million customer locations to be completed within four years of deal completion.