FCC Approves Buyout Of Cellular Phone Carrier Dobson

Friday, November 16th 2007, 6:27 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Communications Commission approves AT&T's $2.8 billion purchase of rural cell phone carrier Dobson Communications. But the FCC will require one of the companies to divest assets in three states.

The feds concluded Thursday, the likely public interest benefits of the merger outweigh any potential public interest harms, except in parts of Kentucky, Oklahoma and Texas.

The Justice Department approved the sale on October 30th, also on the condition that the combined company divest certain assets.

San Antonio-based AT&T in June announced it was buying Dobson.

The purchase adds 1.7 million customers to AT&T's roughly 63 million subscribers.

Oklahoma City-based Dobson is the nation's ninth-largest carrier, and does business under the Cellular One brand. The company has provided roaming services to AT&T since 1990.