Following the FCC’s decision to request a formal administrative hearing into AT&T’s planned acquisition of T-Mobile, AT&T has announced that they are withdrawing their pending approval applications with the FCC. They are not giving up hope on the deal as they specifically say that they are “continuing to pursue the sale” of T-Mobile.

In case of failure, AT&T has decided to take a $4 billion pretax charge on its 4th Quarter 2011 accountancy sheet. This includes a $3 billion pay out to Deutsche Telekom in the event that the sale doesn’t go through.