T-Mobile may violate foreign ownership rule-FCC Reuters
Fri Oct 31, 2008 11:14am EDT http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USN3134234520081031 WASHINGTON, Oct 31 (Reuters) - T-Mobile, which is owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, may be in violation of a federal rule barring more than 20 percent foreign ownership, according to a letter sent to the company by a U.S. regulator. "T-Mobile USA's level of foreign ownership through the existing ownership structure appears to be in violation" of federal law, the Federal Communications Commission wrote in a letter dated Oct. 17 to T-Mobile obtained by Reuters. T-Mobile disputed the assertion, and said it was in talks with regulators to find a regulatory fix. "We're perplexed by this," said Kathleen Ham, vice president of federal regulatory affairs for T-Mobile, which was acquired by Deutsche Telekom in 2001. FCC officials said T-Mobile had agreed to create a subsidiary for a rural venture called Wireless Alliance to be in compliance with federal rules. Wireless Alliance is owned jointly by T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless, itself a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc and Britain's Vodafone Group Plc. The FCC officials said T-Mobile never properly created that subsidiary structure, putting the company in violation. The issue came up in the context of the FCC's review of a pending merger between Verizon Wireless and Alltel Corp. -- ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 Mail: antunes at uh dot edu *********************************** * POST TO [email protected] * *********************************** Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
