AT&T CFO John Stephens told Wall Street Wednesday that the states that have been reviewing its proposed merger with DirecTV have concluded those reviews without proposing any conditions. Those states are Arizona, Louisiana and Hawaii, all of which had "unique statutes or commission rules for the transfer," said a source familiar with the reviews.
Stephens also confirmed Wednesday that Brazil's antitrust regulator has approved the DirecTV deal, also without any restrictions. DirecTV's satellite service includes to almost 18 million subs in Latin America, including in Brazil.
As part of the proposed deal, AT&T is divesting its interest in América Móvil, a telecom company based in Mexico.
Stephens was talking to analysts on an earnings call Wednesday when he made the point that the deal process was moving along, using those as examples. He said AT&T was focused on working with regulatory agencies to get the deal done.
At press time, the FCC had yet to open a docket on the proposal and start its informal 180-day shot clock on the deal. That won't happen until it has confirmed that A&T's filings square with FCC rules and it has outlined how sensitive information collected from the companies and others as part of its review will be treated.
