AT&T together with the Department of Justice filed a motion to the United District Court under the District of Columbia in order to halt the proceedings of the lawsuit filed by the DOJ blocking the merger between AT&T and T-Mobile USA.
Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle granted the request of the parties to stay the antitrust case in aims of letting the two carriers explore all of their options regarding the merger. Shortly after filing, the motion to stay was granted on Monday. The case will stay until January 18 providing time for AT&T and Deutsche Telekom‒ the parent company of T-Mobile‒ to discuss on the most suitable step forward.
In a statement released by AT&T, the company expressed that they are “actively considering whether and how” the two companies can revise their transaction in order to attain the required regulatory approvals for their proposed service improvements while at the same time keeping in mind the best interest of their respective shareholders, customers, and employees.
The motion to halt the proceedings of the antitrust case accordingly makes it more difficult to meet the September 20 deadline for AT&T to complete its $39 billion deal otherwise pay T-Mobile a breakup fee of US$4 billion, unless the terms of the deal will be renegotiated. The option for AT&T is to prevail the trial with the DOJ then apply for controlling the spectrum licenses of T-Mobile at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States.
According to documents in court, on January 12, AT&T will be filing a report that will describe the status of merger which includes whether the acquisition will be pushed through or whether there are alterations to the proposed transaction and matters concerning FCC approval.
Before the stay request on Monday, the antitrust case was scheduled to commence on February 13. The pretrial and trial procedures are cancelled and a status conference will be held by January 18.
The request for stay arrived while the Department of Justice itself was preparing for its own request of stay or case dismissal. Attorney Joseph Wayland representing the DOJ expressed to Judge Huvelle that his client believes that there will no longer be a pending merger after the FCC withdrawal of application by AT&T regarding the spectrum licenses transfer of T-Mobile.
