Federal regulators and the two companies' shareholders approved the merger February 17, 1999. By that time, the value of the stock portion of the deal had increased to $43.5 billion. The Federal Communications Commission did not require TCI to give other companies access to its cable lines, despite requests by America Online and others. TCI had made its cable lines capable of providing Internet access, and AT&T wanted those same lines to provide local phone service, which it was already doing in another agreement with Time Warner.