AT&T is promising to offer cheaper Internet service to poor people if it's allowed to buy DirecTV. This is similar to a promise that helped Comcast gain government approval of its 2011 acquisition of NBCUniversal.

Qualifying residents in areas where AT&T's top speeds are below 5Mbps (that's not a typo) will be offered DSL service of "up to 1.5Mbps, where available" for $10 a month, AT&T said in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission last week. It'll be $5 a month for the first year before rising to $10 for the next three years. AT&T is proposing a four-year commitment in total.

In areas where AT&T's top speeds are higher, the company said it "will offer a broadband wireline DSL service at speeds up to 5Mbps to households in AT&T’s wireline footprint for $10 per month for the first 12 months of service (rising to $20 per month for the remainder of the term of the commitment)."

The "where available" qualification is an important one. Many people who live in AT&T's wireline territory can't get DSL, even though AT&T promised 100 percent broadband coverage throughout its 22-state wireline territory when it bought BellSouth in 2006. After that promise expired, AT&T stopped upgrading its network in many areas. In some neighborhoods, AT&T doesn't have enough capacity to serve all residents; in others, AT&T Internet service isn't available to anyone.

The cheap Internet offer will be available to people who qualify for the US government's Supplement Nutritional Assistance Program (formerly known as the food stamp program), if they haven't been an AT&T Internet customer for at least six months and are not subject to "a current collection action for AT&T services."

AT&T's 3Mbps service costs $29.95 per month for the first year, and more thereafter.

While much of AT&T's territory will continue to be stuck on DSL Internet service, the company also promised to expand its fiber network if it's allowed to buy DirecTV. For a year, AT&T had been saying only that it would build fiber to an additional 2 million locations (i.e. homes and businesses), without specifying how much fiber it would deploy if the government doesn't approve the merger.

Now, AT&T has revealed that it plans to deploy fiber to 11.7 million customer locations within four years, including the 2 million that are contingent on approval of the merger.

AT&T also plans a new fixed wireless Internet service that it would bundle with DirecTV satellite video. But even with these improvements, AT&T's public statements show that about 17 million customer locations in AT&T's wireline territory will have service of only up to 6Mbps downstream, or none at all.

While the Department of Justice is reportedly set to approve AT&T's acquisition of DirecTV without any conditions, the FCC could still block the deal or impose conditions that AT&T would have to follow.