This afternoon, AT&T and T-Mobile dedicated a twenty-eight page PDF to convincing regulators that their $39 billion aquisition wouldn’t violate antitrust law, using images just like the one above. Well, as you are able to imagine, Sprint had something to claim about that, and you’ll read it immediately below.
The integration of AT&T and T-Mobile USA, if approved by the dept of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC), would alter dramatically the structure of the communications industry. AT&T and Verizon are already by far the most important wireless providers. A combined AT&T and T-Mobile could be almost thrice the scale of Sprint, the third largest wireless competitor. If approved, the merger would set off a wireless industry dominated overwhelmingly by two vertically-integrated companies that control almost 80% of the u. s. wireless post-paid market, in addition the supply and worth of key inputs comparable to backhaul and access needed by other wireless companies to compete. The DOJ and the FCC must decide if this transaction is within the best interest of customers and the united states economy overall, and determine if innovation and powerful competition will be impacted adversely and by this dramatic change inside the structure of the industry.
Last week, rumors flew that Sprint, not AT&T, stands out as the one to affix T-Mobile and create an infinite wireless network, and while we haven’t heard any proof of that up to now, it probably wouldn’t be terribly happy to accept “no 1 spectrum position” if the tables were indeed turned.
LG’s upcoming MWC lineup runs into some Italians, gets documented on video
Everything Everywhere promises ‘small-scale LTE launch’ in UK by the top of 2012
