U.S. and Vermont v. Verizon Communications, No. 1:08-cv-993-EGS (D.D.C. June 10, 2008

Vermont and the U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint against Verizon and Rural Cellular Corp., challenging the merger of the two companies’ cellular services. The state and DOJ settled, requiring that the merged company sell all overlapping assets in Vermont.

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U.S. and Plaintiff States v. AT&T, No. 11-01560 (D.D.C, 2011)

AT&T sought to acquire T-Mobile. The transaction would have combined two of the only four wireless carriers with nationwide networks. US DOJ and six states filed suite to block the merger. The parties abandoned the merger three months later.

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U.S. and Plaintiff States v. Verizon Communications, Inc., No. 08-cv-01878 (D.D.C. 2008)

USDOJ and plaintiff states filed suit to stop the acquisition of Alltel Corp. by Verizon Communications Corp. Verizon agreed to divest assets in 100 areas in 22 states in order to proceed with the acquisition.

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U.S. and Louisiana v. AT&T Inc., No. 1:09-cv-01932 (D.D.C. 2009)

US DOJ and the state of Louisiana sued for divestiture of assets in Louisiana and Mississippi in connection with the acquisition by AT&T of Centennial Communications Corp. The parties alleged that the transaction would substantially lessen competitionin the market for mobile wireless telecommunications services in those areas. The divestitures cover portions of southwestern and central Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi. The complaint alleged that AT&T and Centennial are each other’s closest competitor for a significant set of customers in eight Cellular Marketing Areas (CMAs), as defined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The complaint alleges that the proposed transaction would substantially reduce competition for mobile wireless telecommunications services in each of these areas.

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U.S. and Minnesota v. Alltel Corp. et al.06-3631 (RHK/AJB) (D. Minn. 2007)

Alltel Corp. paid $1.3 million to the United States and Minnesota to settle allegations that it violated conditions of its acquisition of Midwest Wireless. Alltel had agreed to maintain the Midwest Wireless assets while it finished the acquisition, so it could divest its service in several rural Minnesota counties because of antitrust concerns. Minnesota and US DOJ accused Alltel of failing to maintain those assets as agreed. The state got $745,000 from the settlement, and the Justice Department got $580,000,

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U.S., Connecticut and Texas v. Cingular Wireless Corp., No. 1:04CV01850 (D.D.C. Nov. 3, 2004)

U.S. Department of Justice and Plaintiff States sought to enjoin the acquisition of AT&T Wireless by Cingular Wireless, alleging that the proposed merger would result in higher prices and reduced innovation for consumers of mobile wireless services.

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