So now that their proposed merger with MCI has been rebuffed, it appears Qwest have filed objections to the mergers of SBC and AT&T as well as Verizon and MCI. The actual complaint was filed with the California Public Utilities Commission. I can’t really say that I’m surprised by this.
The most interesting quote from the complaint is:
It is difficult to see how these two transactions could ever be found to be in the public interest.
Qwest’s merger with MCI would have differed structurally from the Verizon-MCI merger in no concrete way. This is just sour grapes on the part of Qwest. This complaint comes on the heels of complaints from other telecommunications companies and consumer groups regarding the mega-mergers. This is all to be expected since the SBC and AT&T merger effectively undoes a divide that has been maintained in the American telecommunications industry for 20 years.
