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U.S. Government Moving to Block AT&T's Acquisition of T-Mobile
- Thread starter troop231
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For one, AT&T is a larger company already than Verizon is. Perhaps not in the wireless space, but overall they're a behemoth. Also, at the time, there was more competition in the space. This is all about timing and the current competitive landscape. They've both had their fair share of acquisitions that were allowed to proceed. Remember Cingular?
Price fixing is in place.
A friend of mine in Europe just bought an iPhone, got a plan with 1500 minutes and unlimited data. For $25 a month. In the US you'd pay 500% of that.
Unfortunately, cell phone networks and internet providers have formed cartels, which is bad for the economy and the competition and raises cost for all businesses.
Yeah, they did: "T-Mobile USA has confirmed that it will need a spectrum partner by 2014 or 2015 in order to build sufficient LTE capability"
$7B isn't quite two quarters worth of revenue for T-Mobile US. It's a nice gesture, but I don't see where they can parlay that quickly into anything that will generate them more revenue (so that they can grow/update their network to compete with Verizon/AT&T/Sprint).
But who knows.
Wow Really?
Okay so we are grateful that AT&T and T-mobile can't join because we are upset at AT&T? That doesn't make sense. This is not good for consumers. The reason this is being blocked is because the CEO of Sprint is trying to block it and finally got someone listen, he is scared about his crapy company going under.
Now to be clear I hate that AT&T charges so much, but I hate even more the crapy coverage. So the reason this would be good for consumers is we would finally get good service! Right now consumers loose no matter what carrier they go with, expensive plans and crapy service.
If the government is actually going to do something then they need to watch what the rest of the world is doing and not allow the cell companies to charge so much for crapy service. In Europe the main cost is in buying the phone, and they have way better service.
Just sayin.
Okay so we are grateful that AT&T and T-mobile can't join because we are upset at AT&T? That doesn't make sense. This is not good for consumers. The reason this is being blocked is because the CEO of Sprint is trying to block it and finally got someone listen, he is scared about his crapy company going under.
Now to be clear I hate that AT&T charges so much, but I hate even more the crapy coverage. So the reason this would be good for consumers is we would finally get good service! Right now consumers loose no matter what carrier they go with, expensive plans and crapy service.
If the government is actually going to do something then they need to watch what the rest of the world is doing and not allow the cell companies to charge so much for crapy service. In Europe the main cost is in buying the phone, and they have way better service.
Just sayin.
There is nothing that prevents either company from roaming on each other's network if they don't have enough towers in a particular area.
If Deutsche Telekom does not want to invest in the US, it can spin T-Mobile off if it is not independent already and raise money by selling shares. I am pretty sure there are enough investors out there who believe this is a profitable business. US is a large country, it an easily accommodate four national networks.
It just seems that if the two national carriers that compete based on price are both struggling to retain customers/not bleed money, it doesn't seem that model may actually be profitable in the long run.
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It is immoral for the government to prevent a mutually agreed upon exchange of money for a product, service, or company. If the T-Mobile deal is blocked, it needs to serve as a wakeup call that the government is overreaching too much.
It is immoral for the government to prevent a mutually agreed upon exchange of money for a product, service, or company. If the T-Mobile deal is blocked, it needs to serve as a wakeup call that the government is overreaching too much.
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Argue all we want one thing is for sure, the politicians that are doing this are obviously Verizon subscribers, lol
Argue all we want one thing is for sure, the politicians that are doing this are obviously Verizon subscribers, lol
this is all dawning on me now.
AT&T is slowly losing its exclusivity with the iPhone. And now that rumors are saying both T-mobile and Sprint will get the iPhone this year, its quite possible this has something to do with it.
The biggest emerging market in the mobile industry is in the low end spectrum of phones. T-Mobile is a magnet for low cost smartphones/feature phones.
Personally I think its best if T-Mobile stands its ground.
Lame. Yet another industry the .gov whores feel a need to intervene from the course of business. I honestly don't know if I'm for or against the merger, but I am against the DOJ sticking it's nose in the wrong places.
I'm sorry, but this country is WAY too regulated.
I'm sorry, but this country is WAY too regulated.
O M G
stop watching Fox News.
you know the mess we're in is due to the fact that there were TOO many deregulations since the Clinton administration. Thats for another discussion though. And both parties are to blame for this.
Wow... You mean government is actually taking it upon itself to represent the interests of the people? That, or it just so happens to coincide with some other government or corporate interest (though I'm not seeing how right now). Either way, this is great news!
Do you really believe this? Currently AT&T customers are staying with AT&T despite the service issues. What motive does AT&T have to improve service?
Competition always helps consumers. If not for T-Mobile and Sprint charging less than AT&T and Verizon do, AT&T and Verizon would likely be charging even MORE than they do now.
Never, EVER believe these corporations are in any way on your side. They will do the best they can to extract as much money FROM you, while at the same time investing as little money in providing good service as they can get away with. This is why regulation is important and why I feel like smacking around all the "the market must be completely free!" idiots.
The "mess" we're in is because .gov has involved itself in WAY too many facets of American life, invited itself into way too many business deals where it doesn't belong.
Oh, and I don't watch Fox News. Or CNN. Or MSNBC, or any of the pathetic news organizations pandering spin and rhetoric. They're all miserably insufficient at their jobs.
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Wahoo! I'm an idiot. But I'm proud to be one.
I would completely agree with you, if not for one thing. Remember that spectrum is a very finite resource, just like land, oil, etc. That is why it is so valuable. If in the future, one company were to control all of the available wireless spectrum, I think you'd agree that would be a bad thing. That is why regulation is a necessity in areas such as this one in order to keep competition alive.
Our networking needs a revolution
Our wireless networks are silos. Get in, and it's hard to get out. If you accept a deal and find out later that your network sucks, there's nothing you can do. We're serfs. What we need, I believe, is one network, maintained according to common standards by the wireless providers. Otherwise, what will be produced, eventually, is either an AT&T or a Verizon monopoly.
Our wireless networks are silos. Get in, and it's hard to get out. If you accept a deal and find out later that your network sucks, there's nothing you can do. We're serfs. What we need, I believe, is one network, maintained according to common standards by the wireless providers. Otherwise, what will be produced, eventually, is either an AT&T or a Verizon monopoly.
