The claim: AT&T also stretched the truth about many smaller points. One of note: The company said its merger with T-Mobile would allow the combined company to make its network more efficient and expand capacity at no additional cost.
Another notable claim: AT&T said its data shows that 40% of customers that cancel service due to higher prices will not purchase another cell phone. AT&T said that means the combined company is unlikely to raise prices for fear of losing customers permanently.
The response: The FCC had trouble believing either claim, arguing that AT&T is purposefully inflating statistics to make the proposed merger appear better than it actually would be.
For the network efficiency argument, the regulator said that AT&T neglected to include the costs of integrating the two networks and phones in its cost assessment. That ommission made AT&T's claims of the merger's cost-saving benefits appear far greater than they actually would be.
As for the claim that droves of customers would drop their service and never buy a cell phone again if AT&T raised prices, the FCC called it both "implausible" and "unsupported." AT&T derived that number from its own studies of customers that leave its network, but the FCC said the company's choice in parameters for its calculation were unreasonable.
The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday blasted AT&T, accusing the telecom giant of lying about the benefits of its proposed merger with T-Mobile.
