The Department of Justice has cleared AT&T's acquisition of rural cellular carrier Dobson for $2.8 billion. AT&T agreed to buy Oklahoma-based Dobson in June of this year. Dobson claims to serve more than 1.5 million wireless customers. The DOJ approved the acquisition as long as AT&T divests itself from a portion of Dobson's customer base in parts of Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas. Neither carrier nor the DOJ disclosed how many Dobson customers AT&T would lose as a result of the condition.
The AT&T-Dobson acquisition occurred during a string of carrier consolidation in the U.S. that saw Verizon Wireless buy RCC, too.
For more on the deal:
- read this press release