AT&T must sell certain assets in bid for Dobson Communications

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., Oct. 30 - In a settlement with AT&T Inc., the U.S. Department of Justice required the company to divest assets in seven markets in Kentucky, Oklahoma, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Texas, including rights to the "Cellular One" brand, in order to move ahead with its planned acquisition of Dobson Communications Corp. In addition, the department's Antitrust Division filed a civil lawsuit to block the proposed transaction, which remains subject to review by the Federal Communications Commission.

The original transaction would have resulted in "higher prices, lower quality, and diminished investment in network improvements, and would have substantially lessened competition to the detriment of consumers of mobile wireless telecommunications services," a Department of Justice news release stated. The proposed divestitures "remedy the competitive problem caused by the otherwise overlapping ownership."

On June 29, AT&T announced it would buy Dobson Communications, an Oklahoma City-based provider of rural and suburban wireless communications services, for $2.8 billion in cash to improve AT&T's wireless network coverage. Dobson Communications shareholders will receive $13 per share.

AT&T is a telecommunications company based in San Antonio, Texas.

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