Rich Fiscus
14 Oct 2011 2:05
The FCC has sent a letter to AT&T asking for more details about the number of US jobs which would be created and eliminated by their proposed buyout of T-Mobile USA.
AT&T, the number 2 wireless carrier in the US, is attempting to buy the number 4 carrier from corporate parent Deutsche Telekom. The deal is opposed by the Justice Department on antitrust grounds.
In their letter, FCC commissioners complain that AT&T has "produced almost nothing" in response to their request for details about the affect on jobs in both operations.
Certainly there is reason to be concerned about the matter. AT&T has made a big deal about planning to bring 5,000 call center jobs back to the US which had previously been outsourced to other countries.
At the same time, one of their promises to shareholders was a savings of $10 billion in support costs, which includes call centers, over the next 3 years.
The obvious question, then, is how they plan to save money while increasing payroll. That appears to be exactly what the FCC is looking to answer.
They are requesting:
All analyses, reports, data or other documents in AT&T's possession, custody or control that analyze the size and location of AT&T's workforce both before and as anticipated after the merger. This would include, among all other responsive documents, (i) any documents enumerating the number of T-Mobile and AT&T jobs that will be eliminated or added should the merger be approved, and the effect of the proposed transaction on employment both inside and outside the United Sates; (ii) on an annual basis for the past five years and estimated for the next three years (without the merger), the number of AT&T wireless full-time employees ("FTEs") and, separately wireless call center FTEs within and outside the United States, broken down by employment location and type of employee (direct or out-sourced); and (iii) the "detailed analysis focused specifically on identifying opportunities with the T-Mobile merger to bring good-paying wireless call center jobs back to the United States" that AT&T stated it had developed.