FCC Names AT&T-T-Mobile Transaction Chief

Cites her experience with antitrust litigation when she was with Justice

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/17/2011 5:16:48 PM

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has named Renate Hesse senior counsel to the chairman for transactions. She will head up the team reviewing the proposed AT&T-T Mobile merger. She is no kin to Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, the FCC said. Dan Hesse is one of the deal's biggest critics.

Hesse succeeds John Flynn, who was brought on board for the Comcast.NBCU merger review.

Renata Hesse is from the D.C. office of law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she has focused on antitrust. She has advised clients on antitrust reviews before the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department, the latter which is also reviewing the AT&T-Mobile deal.

She is also former chief of the networks and technology enforcement section of the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division.

The FCC's review goes beyond antitrust to include a public interest finding.

In the release announcing her appointment, the FCC pointed out she had been involved in "some of the most significant antitrust litigation brought by the Department of Justice in the last decade," including against Oracle, American Airlines for predatory conduct and the Microsoft monopoly litigation.