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.
