The merger between
Comcast and
Time Warner Cable is moving along, according to recent statements from Comcast CEO Brian Roberts. Roberts said that his company is moving "full steam ahead" with the $45 billion deal to acquire Time Warner Cable, an acquisition that would bring an additional 11 million customers to Comcast's Internet and television services.
Roberts issued comments to members of the press in San Francisco on Wednesday, stating that the company is in the final phase of the process, according to
Reuters. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is currently reviewing the potential merger, which is now frozen in a pleading cycle. The review is expected to be completed sometime in 2015. Roberts said that Comcast expects the deal to close by the end of March.
"We are in the final stages of public comment. Sometimes things get slowed down in that phase," said Roberts. "We are full steam ahead."
In contrast to statements made from AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson on November 12, Roberts said that Comcast still intends to spend approximately $20 billion over the next two years for Internet and other service improvements. Stephenson used the unknown ruling for net neutrality as a reason to consider a pause on fiber infrastructure investments, even though AT&T faces a merger battle similar to Comcast. AT&T also announced during its quarterly posting that it is scaling back capital investments, which will likely roll into 2015.
Roberts took time to address net neutrality according to the
Associated Press, specifically the recent call to action from US President Barack Obama that urged the FCC to regulate Internet service providers like public utilities under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. He admitted that he didn't know why Obama decided to take such a heavy-handed approach.
Telecommunication companies, including Comcast, were quick to decry Obama's proposed rules. Comcast
said it believed Obama's plan would "be a radical reversal that would harm investment and innovation." The company added in a
later statement that the plan would "harm future innovation and investment in broadband" and "jeopardize this engine for job creation and investment as well as the innovation cycle that the Internet has generated."
"We are trying to work with the FCC, with the Congress, with the administration to forge an outcome that everyone can live with and doesn't do harm to the investment cycle and innovation cycle," said Roberts.
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