U.S. Government Moves to Block AT&T and T-Mobile Merger

Maura · Aug 31, 2011

Bloomberg reports today that the proposed AT&T and T-Mobile merger could be under threat, to say the least, as the U.S. government has filed an antitrust complaint today in Washington, which says that AT&Ts takeover of T-Mobile would be in violation of U.S. antitrust law. The U.S. government also took legal action to get the court to block anything that would lead to the implementation of the deal.

AT&Ts elimination of T-Mobile as an independent, low-priced rival would remove a significant competitive force from the market, Bloomberg quotes the U.S. as saying in the filing.

According to Bloomberg, if the deal is rejected by the regulators, AT&T would legally have to pay T-Mobiles parent company, Deutsche Telekom, $3 billion cash, as well as having to give T-Mobile USA wireless spectrum in certain areas, and lower charges for calls in AT&Ts network, with the total package amounting to as much as $7 billion.

At the time of writing, all of the involved parties had declined to comment on the matter.

Source: U.S. Files Complaint to Block AT&T, T-Mobile Merger - Bloomberg via MacRumors

Skull One · Aug 31, 2011

I am doing the HAPPY DANCE!

iCrank · Aug 31, 2011

Skull One said:
I am doing the HAPPY DANCE!

Really...don't mind me asking why

Skull One · Aug 31, 2011

Personal reason:

AT&T had three years of explosive growth with the iPhone to expand their infrastructure. Instead they took the profit and let the extreme east and west coast users suffer with inferior service. Now they have to either buy someone up to get more towers or spend a lot of money that they have already taken as profit.

Professional reason:

AT&T and T-Mobile are the only two national GSM cellular providers. As such the merger would now force all GSM users that want national coverage to only have one provider. No competition in that environment is bad for consumers. As well as bad for jobs. Since the merger, contrary to AT&Ts claims, will result in the loss of jobs due to having duplication across most white collar positions.

iCrank · Aug 31, 2011

Skull One said:
Personal reason:

AT&T had three years of explosive growth with the iPhone to expand their infrastructure. Instead they took the profit and let the extreme east and west coast users suffer with inferior service. Now they have to either buy someone up to get more towers or spend a lot of money that they have already taken as profit.

Professional reason:

AT&T and T-Mobile are the only two national GSM cellular providers. As such the merger would now force all GSM users that want national coverage to only have one provider. No competition in that environment is bad for consumers. As well as bad for jobs. Since the merger, contrary to AT&Ts claims, will result in the loss of jobs due to having duplication across most white collar positions.

Ok...I agree with you on the professional reason...that would really suck

zipur · Aug 31, 2011

IMO.the more choices you have the better. If the ATT Merger goes though expect Vz Sprint to follow. Then $120 a line will be the norm.

iJeff · Aug 31, 2011

I think its crap if you ask me....who really cares if the merge........lol

iCrank · Aug 31, 2011

zipur said:
IMO.the more choices you have the better. If the ATT Merger goes though expect Vz Sprint to follow. Then $120 a line will be the norm.

thread merged

Darkstar2007 · Aug 31, 2011

I agree with skull one. ATT has the most spectrum, but yet Verizon's service is rated a lot higher. Sprint brought this up in a petition towards the merger earlier this year. They even went as far as saying they themselves should have been like Verizon with their network.

Well we have to remember Microsoft has been down this same road and all they got was a slap on the wrist. So this isn't over yet. Hopefully this story will have a happy ending for the consumers

!

zipur · Sep 1, 2011

It's not about the customers it's about profit! Do you think they are ding this just to make us happy?

Skull One · Sep 1, 2011

zipur said:
It's not about the customers it's about profit! Do you think they are ding this just to make us happy?

Actually in AT&Ts case, YES THEY ARE doing it to make customers happy. Because without the T-Mobile network of towers, AT&T customers are going to continue to have issues in the largest east and west coast cities.

DaytonAnnie · Sep 1, 2011

It's interesting from the "jobs" viewpoint. The US government is supposedly focused on creating new jobs. AT&T promises that if the merger were to go through, they'd bring back 5000 jobs to the US. Curious....

iCrank · Sep 1, 2011

DaytonAnnie said:
It's interesting from the "jobs" viewpoint. The US government is supposedly focused on creating new jobs. AT&T promises that if the merger were to go through, they'd bring back 5000 jobs to the US. Curious....

And take away about 10,000. J/k