When we last checked in with the terrible idea of merging AT&T and T-Mobile, AT&T had just withdrawn their merger bid from the FCC over Thanksgiving to make sure their damning, unfriendly, and generally “no effing way this is ever happening dude” report wasn’t released…and the FCC said “Ha! We’re releasing it anyway!”, leaving AT&T to make impotent rage faces on their blog.
And now the Department of Justice, which was going to drag AT&T into court, has decided to get in on the fun, announcing that there’s no rush for an anti-trust trial, bro, because you totally don’t have a merger bid in with the FCC! So, really, it’s like you don’t have a merger at all, so why have a trial? We can just all hang here, until you file that merger bid again.
Just to review: AT&T pulled their merger bid in order to get the Department of Justice trial squared away first. Now the Department of Justice is telling them that, if they want a quick trial, they’re going to have to submit their merger bid, which the FCC literally told them, in public, will be rejected so fast the papers will catch fire. AT&T, meanwhile, is still not getting the message, and is trying to forge full speed ahead.
Government obstructionism has never been so hilarious!