Altice Says Corporate Reorganization Will Not Affect Suddenlink Acquisition
A recent corporate reorganization of French telecom group Altice won't affect plans to buy Suddenlink, Altice said in a filing posted Tuesday in FCC docket 15-135. The reorganization involved a stock split and Altice NV substituting for Altice SA as…
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the parent of Altice's businesses, though Patrick Drahi remains controlling shareholder and the officers and directors of Altice NV are the same as of Altice SA, the company said. The Suddenlink deal still is expected to close by end of the year, Altice said. Cequel does business as Suddenlink. In a separate filing posted Tuesday, Altice and Suddenlink responded to the two parties -- the California Emerging Technology Fund and the Humboldt County, California, Board of Supervisors -- that had filed comments in the takeover proceeding (see 1507240027). The fund had pushed for a requirement that Altice offer a stand-alone wireline broadband plan for $9.95 a month specifically aimed at underserved communities, and monitoring of Altice until 80 percent of eligible people in those targeted underserved communities are connected to broadband. By saying the FCC should use any transaction to advance those connectivity goals, the fund "is implicitly acknowledging ... the transaction poses no transaction-specific harms that would justify any such conditions," Altice and Suddenlink said. The Humboldt County objection revolving around a public, educational and governmental (PEG) access channel fee dispute with Suddenlink is being worked on, while the county's push regarding net neutrality and broadband are industrywide issues that should be addressed in industrywide proceedings, the two said. One new objection was posted Tuesday, from public-access operator Access Humboldt, in which it said that if the FCC does approve the sale, Altice and Suddenlink should be required to promote universal access through investing "in new infrastructure for our least served people and places"; to provide "meaningful support" for PEG access community media to ensure local jurisdictions have roles; to maintain net neutrality practices through common carriage and nondiscriminatory interconnection; and to promote broadband adoption with free connections and at-cost support for low-income communities and such institutions as libraries and schools.