Mark Del Bianco has this very interesting (and technical) commentary at news.com about the AT&T-Bell South merger (via What About Clients?).  Del Bianco argues that the conventional wisdom that the AT&T-Bell South deal is a “done deal” is incorrect.

The conventional wisdom may be wrong. There is a twist that ought to give the regulators pause. Both Bell South and AT&T own considerable chunks of prime wireless spectrum that is unused and that could quickly and relatively cheaply be used to provide broadband services that would compete with telecom and cable wireline broadband services–in other words, the long-sought “third pipe” to the home or business. … Over the last year, the development of worldwide standards for WiMax and improvements in equipment performance and cost have made the 2.3GHz and 2.5GHz frequencies more attractive. They are now among the most desirable for use in providing broadband voice, data and video services that will compete with telecom and cable wireline broadband services. These spectrum bands can also be used to compete in the backhaul and special access (both last-mile and interoffice transport) markets where the regional Bell operating companies are also dominant. Soon. they may even be used to compete with cellular and other mobile voice and data services. Equipment costs will be low and will keep falling as economies of scale kick in. … The proposed merger will concentrate huge blocks of spectrum in one company with every incentive not to use it. Assuming that AT&T’s licenses are spread equally around the U.S. and that BellSouth’s licenses are located primarily in the BellSouth service area (as appears to be the case), then prior to the merger, approximately 40 percent of the BellSouth and 30 percent to 35 percent of the AT&T licenses are located in the parent Bell operating company’s (BOC) service area and are not likely to be used to compete with companies’ wireline broadband services.

There is much, much more.  I highly recommend you check it out.  Oh, and as What About Clients? pointed out, Mark Del Bianco “once labored in DOJ’s Antitrust Division.”

Technorati Tags: antitrust, AT&T, Bell South, WiMax

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