Week ahead: Lawmakers take first crack at AT&T merger

MERGER HITS CAPITOL HILL: A deal to create the largest wireless company in the country has its first test on Capitol Hill this week in a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Antitrust subcommittee.

The Wednesday hearing on AT&T’s proposal to acquire T-Mobile will feature the chief executives of both companies, as well as that of rival Sprint, which opposes the deal as anticompetitive.

Lawmakers are expected to grill the CEOs on whether the deal would create a wireless duopoly and how they will ensure consumers will not be hurt by the deal. Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) have already asked for commitments from AT&T aimed at protecting consumers.

Lawmakers will also hear from Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn, Communications Workers of American President Larry Cohen and Cellular South CEO Hu Meena.

MOBILE PRIVACY GETS SCRUTINY: Privacy issues head to the Senate as the Judiciary Privacy subcommittee, headed by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), holds a hearing on mobile issues on Tuesday.

That hearing arrives in the aftermath of the revelation that smartphones closely track its users’ locations. Witnesses from Google, Apple, the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission will testify.

The hearing also comes as the Judiciary and Commerce committees spar over who has jurisdiction on privacy issues.

Senate Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Senate Commerce telecom Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) have each prepared privacy bills, with the introduction of Rockefeller’s “Do Not Track” legislation expected this week.

FCC IN THE HOUSE: The four  Federal Communications Commission commissioners and the agency’s chairman head back to the House Energy and Commerce Communications subcommittee on Friday for a hearing on FCC process reform.

Expect a contentious meeting as the GOP continues to air grievances about FCC overreach. House Republicans are interested in making sure the agency cannot add draconian conditions to AT&T’s merger with T-Mobile. They think the agency overstepped in the conditions imposed on the Comcast-NBC Universal deal.

The FCC will hold its monthly meeting on Thursday and will discuss outage-reporting requirements for communications service providers.

CES ON THE HILL: The Consumer Electronics Association will showcase tech from member companies at Eastern Market on Tuesday. Exhibitors include Verizon, Motorola, Qualcomm, Sony, Microsoft, Google and others. Industry officials are heading to Capitol Hill for meetings the next day. CEA will present awards for tech leadership to Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) at a dinner Wednesday.  

CYBERSECURITY: The Senate Commerce Committee holds a hearing Thursday on cybersecurity issues that will draw witnesses from IBM, FBI and Verizon.