U.S. Government Moving to Block AT&T's Acquisition of T-Mobile

[hcho3]

The price will go higher no matter what happens with this merger.

T-mobile is trying to merge because they are losing customers and money.

If AT&T doesn't acquire t-mobile, then someone else will.

People say no no with merger, but they are leaving t-mobile to pay more money to AT&T and Verizon.

Sprint and T-mobile are struggling as of now. If the merger goes thru, then they will just struggle and die faster.

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

Ah. So basically given the choice, you would screw over about 1/3 of your fellow Americans so that you can make a few hundred dollars profit?

Sounds like you and AT&T are a match made in heaven.

Sounds like the same excuse people make for Apple filing frivolous lawsuits. I am a "Shareholder".

Look when you have 10's of thousands of dollars invested I understand but when you buy a few shares and you are throwing around I am a shareholder... thats like a Porsche Boxter owner gloating to a Porsche GT3 owner.

 

[GorgonPhone]

umm you folks are not realizing that tmobile cant survive in this market anyway especially with no iphone and especially with sprint getting the iphone..

 

[NAG]

No, it's quite bad actually.

The best thing for consumers would be ONE GSM network and ONE CDMA network in the country. But with multiple networks for each standard, we are doomed forever to sub-standard cell reception because there simply isn't the room (and money) to build out robust networks that cover everyone.

This will actually probably increase prices, as carriers will have to spend MORE money to develop networks that could have been improved instead by combining networks.

Next time you are in an area you can't get decent coverage in, remember that it's "good for consumers"

There's a reason most other developed nations have national networks, with various carriers working on that same network.

You're conflating network companies and standards.

 

[wildmac]

The USA needs MORE competition in the market not less, the government is smart to block this.

Cell service in the USA is terrible and overpriced when compared to EU, Asia, and South America, and it's due to a lack of competition and investment in the market place. Why would prices get lower when the few big bloated corporations can price fix and gouge everyone $0.25 for a text message and $0.40 a minute of talk time? The USA is the most uncompetitive landscape in the world for broadband and mobile, the last thing we need is a mobile monopoly.

Your magical competition will not provide a better signal.

You going to allow them to put up a new cell tower in your backyard? And who will pay for that tower? you will.

Our problem is the carriers run their own networks. That's not the case in most of Europe. The networks are national, and the "competing" carriers simply sell service off that network. That's why coverage is so much better there. You aren't putting up 4 different towers next to each other.

 

[Mad-B-One]

I hope they are successful. This was a bad move for consumers.

They are the government. They split Bell once and AT&T has to comply. That is simply the law. T-Mobile isn't small either... think outside the US: It was an acquisition by Deutsche Telekom AG back in the days when it was called "VoiceStream Wireless PCS." T-Mobile are one of the big ten in the world and have the money and power to research and innovate. Even Vodafone's network in Germany was originally based on Telekom's work if you go back to the "Mannesmann Mobilfunk AG" time (Vodafone took it in a hostile takeover). That is why the U.S. needs T-Mobile USA independent from the local players such as Verizon and AT&T.

Evidence that the Government is right on this one: Compare mobile prices in Europe with the US: My brother pays $50 for unlimited talk, data, texting on a 4G network available in 97% of the area and I pay $87 with a 20% State Employee rebate getting capped if my traffic is "too high" in their eyes and now wouldn't get unlimited data plan anymore. Not to talk about having only a fixed amount of minutes to talk and 250 messages. A comparable contract would run twice my brother's easily.

 

[AppleFan1984]

Wow, Big Brother steps in again.

Yeah, why don't those bullies just leave companies like Enron, PG&E, CitiBank, and AT&T alone! Gosh, everyone knows massive corporations always do what's in the best interest of the communities they serve. We need anarchy now!

 

[ravensfan55]

The price will go higher no matter what happens with this merger.

T-mobile is trying to merge because they are losing customers and money.

If AT&T doesn't acquire t-mobile, then someone else will.

People say no no with merger, but they are leaving t-mobile to pay more money to AT&T and Verizon.

Sprint and T-mobile are struggling as of now. If the merger goes thru, then they will just struggle and die faster.

If AT&T doesn't get T-Mobile, no one will.

Verizon wouldn't be able to for obvious reasons.

Sprint is still integrating Nextel customers, and they do not have the money or ability to take on a whole new network.

I don't think any of the smaller carriers (Cricket or MetroPCS) would be able to afford T-Mobile.

So what is the government accomplishing? If they are truly trying to protect "competition" they are just delaying the inevitable. DT wants out of the US market, so if they are forced to go on as a separate company they will be scrapped and the telcos will simply be acquiring them market by market.

 

[jav6454]

The US Government is backwards, they block what should be allowed and allows what shouldn't be...

 

[iansilv]

Yes! Yes yes yes!!! This is awesome news!!!

Sorry Att, but your lies and half- baked attempts at cramming this merger down consumers' throats as being good for them are not going to work. The simple fact is you complain about people using their legitimate data contracts that you sell as unlimited when that is what thy bought- yet you never offer the obvious solution which is a non- monthly pay-for-2gigs-until-it-runs-out plan. That would fix the problem- but you want it both ways. You want high monthly revenues and limited investment infrastructure.

Sorry- just because you say it again and again doesn't make it true- you can't keep telling people your network is good when it isn't.

I'm with Verizon now and it truly is a superior experience.

I look forward to this merger being blocked and you scrambling to be more competitive over the next few years. Good luck idiots.

 

[silentnite]

BLOCK AWAY! I hope they are successful. Keep the power to the people, this would really hurt the little guy if AT&T wins

 

[wildmac]

You're conflating network companies and standards.

The carriers each run their own network. There's simply not the room or money to build out independent networks for each carrier. As a result, our service will continue to lag behind other countries.

Actually, the way out of this might be that AT+T buys the TMobile network, while DT (or someone else) continues to offer the TMobile service but off of the combined network.

 

[ThomasJL]

Blame Apple for T-Mobile's hardships

T-Mobile USA is bleeding customers.

I blame Apple for that. I also blame Apple for the greedy and corrupt AT&T gaining several millions of customers and reaching record profits. If Apple hadn't acted in such a greedy and anti-consumer manner by giving AT&T exclusivity, T-Mobile USA would be in a much better position today.

As much as I love the iPhone and consider it to be the best smartphone by far on the market, I am thoroughly enjoying seeing Apple get their butt kicked by Android on many fronts. Apple deserves every bit of the butt-kicking they are getting from Android, and that's because Android would have never been so successful if Apple wasn't so greedy enough to give AT&T exclusivity.

 

[faroZ06]

Who even uses T-Mobile? Even in their own ad, they have no users

 

[rmwebs]

I hope tMobile and AT&T merge

I expected better of you Shamil...especially someone so well versed in legal proceedings (XenForo vs IB).

I'd ditch those shares. Sooner or later the company will be broken up.

 

[wildmac]

BLOCK AWAY! I hope they are successful. Keep the power to the people, this would really hurt the little guy if AT&T wins

Next time you can't get a signal, just remember your words...

 

[Littleman]

The USA needs MORE competition in the market not less, the government is smart to block this.

Cell service in the USA is terrible and overpriced when compared to EU, Asia, and South America, and it's due to a lack of competition and investment in the market place. Why would prices get lower when the few big bloated corporations can price fix and gouge everyone $0.25 for a text message and $0.40 a minute of talk time? The USA is the most uncompetitive landscape in the world for broadband and mobile, the last thing we need is a mobile monopoly.

I find American monthly prices gobsmacking.

Pay £30 (about $50) for 600 cross network minutes, unlimited texts (really unlimited), and real unlimited data I can tether with. PAYG deals are even better.

This is due to healthy competition in the UK. Perhaps geographical size has something to do with it also, but competition really works here.


---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=53.497522,-2.377112

 

[Daveoc64]

Your magical competition will not provide a better signal.

You going to allow them to put up a new cell tower in your backyard? And who will pay for that tower? you will.

Our problem is the carriers run their own networks. That's not the case in most of Europe. The networks are national, and the "competing" carriers simply sell service off that network. That's why coverage is so much better there. You aren't putting up 4 different towers next to each other.

That's exactly what happens here in Europe.

 

[powaking]

If this deal does not go through then TMo will be getting something out of the non-deal. Its a nice chunk of cash.

Should regulators reject the deal, which would create the biggest U.S. wireless carrier, AT&T would have to pay Deutsche Telekom $3 billion in cash. It would also provide T-Mobile USA with wireless spectrum in some regions and reduced charges for calls into AT&T’s network, for a total package valued at as much as $7 billion, Deutsche Telekom said this month.

 

[devinci99]

Thank god, AT&T is bigger today than it was when it had to be split up all those years ago. The only reason cell companies have been allowed to get this big is because their lobbyists managed to convince congress that wireless connectivity shouldn't be subject to the same regulations that physical landline services are.

Today's AT&T isn't the original one. AT&T went under, and sold it's wireless business to Cingular. SouthBell bought AT&T; then rename itself AT&T.

If I didn't know better, before Verizon bought and took over all the children bells in the Northeast. Verizon has a good share of ma-bell's children.

Isn't today's AT&T basically Cingular + SouthBell?

 

[Clackamas]

This is good news.

One of the problems with this merger is it would give AT&T 100% control of GSM based technologies in the US; technologies used by 80% of the world.

That is a big no-no to competition to phone manufacturers as well as consumers seeking different plans.

 

[Shanpdx]

Yay!

Govt no place for business acquisition but this is right decision in this case!

 

[faroZ06]

I blame Apple for that. I also blame Apple for the greedy and corrupt AT&T gaining several millions of customers and reaching record profits. If Apple hadn't acted in such a greedy and anti-consumer manner by giving AT&T exclusivity, T-Mobile USA would be in a much better position today.

As much as I love the iPhone and consider it to be the best smartphone by far on the market, I am thoroughly enjoying seeing Apple get their butt kicked by Android on many fronts. Apple deserves every bit of the butt-kicking they are getting from Android, and that's because Android would have never been so successful if Apple wasn't so greedy enough to give AT&T exclusivity.

I think you're mistaking greed with business agreements and success.

Apple did not want AT&T to have exclusivity. That's why they now allow Verizon. People were complaining about AT&T having bad reception (idk but for me it's better).

And the iPhone is not losing to the Droid... Google is trying to make a computer and their own hardware to compete with the iPhone now because they saw their mistake.

 

[Pro31]

i wished they would merge

 

[ravensfan55]

I blame Apple for that. I also blame Apple for the greedy and corrupt AT&T gaining several millions of customers and reaching record profits. If Apple hadn't acted in such a greedy and anti-consumer manner by giving AT&T exclusivity, T-Mobile USA would be in a much better position today.

As much as I love the iPhone and consider it to be the best smartphone by far on the market, I am thoroughly enjoying seeing Apple get their butt kicked by Android on many fronts. Apple deserves every bit of the butt-kicking they are getting from Android, and that's because Android would have never been so successful if Apple wasn't so greedy enough to give AT&T exclusivity.

The point of businesses are to:

1. Make money
2. Provide service

If the business world was all butterflies and rainbows then there would be no economy, no jobs, no nothing. The sole point of any business in any industry is to make money. Next on that list is to provide a service.