AT&T/T-Mobile merger bomb by lawsuits

AT&T/T-Mobile merger bomb by lawsuits

How many of you out there think that the AT&T and T-Mobile merger is busted? *Raised hand*. I have to admit that early on I believed that the merger will continue to go through in spite of huge protest from consumers, business and some politicians. However it appears though that competitors and the government is willing to fight the hard fight to block the merger. AT&T isn’t giving up. They are sticking to their lies, re-organizing their presentation and bushing back. Those of us who are hoping that the merger failed just need to hang in there and remember that it’s not over until they say it’s over.

AT&T argues that they need the spectrum that is owned by T-Mobile in spite of the fact that they have un-used spectrum of their own. They claim that the cost to customer will not rise because T-Mobile isn’t a major competitor in the mobile market. Finally they say that they will not cut jobs; in fact they are adding jobs at this current moment.

What could happen if AT&T fails to acquire T-Mobile? According to Reuters.com AT&T may have the ability to side step regulators by becoming network partners instead of a single company.

“One source close to the case said there has been no movement toward a settlement and that the deal would have to be substantially restructured to satisfy antitrust enforcers. The stakes are high, because the attractiveness of the deal diminishes the longer it is held up in a regulatory review. AT&T has asked for a January 16 trial date, while the Justice Department is pushing for March 19” (Sinead Carew, Nicola Leske).

Would AT&T really settle for just being business partners? It is my impression that they just want to take out a competitor and monopolize the extra spectrum. I believe they want to acquire the spectrum which takes it off the market and then hold on to it rather than use it and continue to claim they have a spectrum crunch as they are currently doing with their own network. I don’t believe that AT&T cares about acquiring all of T-Mobiles customer.

It seems highly unlikely that the AT&T/T-mobile deal will go through. On the other hand AT&T may take T-Mobile piece by piece. I have been a T-Mobile fan from the time I work for them in the past but I can’t help feeling like they threw us all under the bus to make a hasty exit out of the U.S.