Microsoft Backs AT&T/DirecTV Deal

Microsoft is down with the AT&T/DirecTV deal, and it is all about the broadband.

In a filing at the FCC, Microsoft said that the AT&T/DirecTV deal would help deploy broadband infrastructure critical to innovation.

Microsoft points out that AT&T has committed to increasing broadband deployment by boosting its fiber to the premises wireline service to two million more customer locations, and to deploying fixed-wireless local loop technology, boosting broadband speeds to 15-20 Mbps to 13 million mostly rural customers outside AT&T's current footprint or where current customers don't get the U-Verse bundle of broadband and video.

And while Microsoft gave the FCC credit for advancing deployment through the Universal Service Fund and E-rate subsidies, it suggested the deal would be a good venue for expanding on that.

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John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.