AT&T responds to the FCC’s negative report on the T-Mobile deal, questions why it was released

AT&T’s senior executive VP of external and legislative affairs, Jim Cicconi, released a brief statement in response to the FCC’s damning report yesterday:

The FCC has recognized that it is required by its own rules to dismiss our merger application. This makes all the more troubling their decision to nonetheless release a preliminary staff report on the merger. This report is not an order of the FCC and has never been voted on. It is simply a staff draft that raises questions of fact that were to be addressed in an administrative hearing, a hearing which will not now take place. It has no force or effect under law, which raises questions as to why the FCC would choose to release it. The draft report has also not been made available to AT&T prior to today, so we have had no opportunity to address or rebut its claims, which makes its release all the more improper.

Clearly, the company is upset that the report was released in the first place considering that AT&T’s application has been withdrawn — and it’s also upset that it didn’t have an opportunity to check out the findings beforehand so it could “address or rebut its claims.” In all likelihood, we haven’t heard the last from either side.