The FCC's decision to request a formal administrative
hearing into AT&T's proposed takeover of T-Mobile USA has caused
the US carrier to take drastic action: AT&T and Deutsche Telekom
have just announced that they're withdrawing their
pending approval applications with the FCC. This is not to say
that the companies are quitting on the deal, they specifically
assert that they're "continuing to pursue the sale" of DT's US
wireless assets, however AT&T's other move today is almost as
significant.  The big blue mobile operator has decided to take a
$4 billion pretax charge on its Q4 2011 accountancy sheet, in
recognition of the risk of this deal not going through. That
includes a $3 billion default payment that is due to Deutsche
Telekom in the event of non-completion and an additional $1
billion in book value of spectrum that AT&T would have to give
up. So, as far as AT&T's accountants are concerned, the failure
of the $39 billion T-Mobile acquisition is now more likely than
its success.  In a statement reported