Public interest groups write letter to FCC in opposition of AT&T/T-Mobile deal

By on Jun 30, 2011 at 1:30 AM
Legal June 30, 2011

Several advocacy groups have written a letter to the Federal Communications Commission in regards to AT&T’s planned $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile. The letter specifically asks FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to “convene a series of field hearings around the country to hear from the people who could be most affected by the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile.” The advocacy groups believe that the acquisition would give AT&T nearly control of nearly 80% of the U.S. wireless market and that as such, “prices would rise, jobs would be lost, and innovation would suffer.” AT&T’s CEO Randall Stephenson has argued that the acquisition would result in net job growth. Sprint, one of the deal’s most outspoken opponents, has also said that the purchase would stifle innovation in the U.S. wireless market. The groups that signed the letter include the Consumers Union, Public Knowledge, the Open Technology Initiative of the New America Foundation, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, Future of Music Coalition, Media Access Project, and the Free Press.

[Via Fierce Wireless]

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  • Drew12x

    Price is mentioned so much as going up. No one has argued that.. So I guess prices will suffer?

  • Anonymous

    T-mobile USA competed with AT&T. That’s news!!

  • Anonymous

    Yes, but the soon-to-be AT&T&T have public interest groups ostensibly writing in their favor as well (even if those groups are only doing it because AT&T finances them). On top of that, Mr. Genachowski probably has a sweet job waiting for him once the merger goes through (see: Meredith Attwell Baker and the NBC-Comcast merger).

    The FCC is supposed to work in our best interests, but you’re an eternal optimist or a fool if you think they’re going to do so with any kind of regularity. I would love to see this deal rejected. As it is, I don’t think the current levels of competition are enough to really drive all of the big four to do what’s best for the consumers (see: shit-tons of bloatware on VZW’s Android devices).

    Kudos to those groups for sticking up for the consumers. But we’re going to see AT&T&T in 2012. I’d be shocked at any other conclusion.

    Correction:
    The advocacy groups believe that the acquisition would give AT&T nearly control of nearly 80% of the U.S. wireless market. Note the bolded part. You might want to fix that.

  • Wirelessmodz

    block this merger block this merger , im a t mobile customer and i dont want this to happen i had att i hate them there cs sucked and they lock down there phones as much as verizon does fuck them

    • Lechero

      Even if the merger doesnt go through you still wont be a t-mobile customer for long, its a sinking ship.

  • StephensonManuel59677868

    I paid $32.67 for a XBOX 360 and my mom got a 17 inch Toshiba laptop for $94.83 being delivered to our house tomorrow by FedEX. I will never again pay expensive retail prices at stores. I even sold a 46 inch HDTV to my boss for $650 and it only cost me $52.78 to get. Here is the website we using to get all this stuff, LiveCent.com

    • GiantSea_Two

      Soooo…. you oppose or side with this merger? Xbox, Toshiba, or FedEx have nothing to do with this article. Neither does HDTV or your boss.

    • http://www.closetheborder.com Johnny Test

      And your mom sits on the corner charging $75 for an hour. Is that fair?

  • Dman

    What’s with the spammer note on this site?

  • Anonymous

    I say I’ll oppose. cause one thing is T-Mobile stores are already closing and more AT&T stores is opening up. and you remember what happened to Cingular Wireless AT&T bought them out. IF AT&T kills T-Mobile and get rid of their unlimited data package. they will get lots of people ANGRY. This is one thing I don’t want the consumers that’s on AT&T to happened too. cause I’m still stuck with AT&T and lost my UNLIMITED DATA Package. And I’m pretty sure AT&T would make T-Mobile disappear like they did with Cingular Wireless

    • Anonymous

      Inspector, you’re almost right. Cingular bought out AT&T. Then Cingular changed their name to AT&T due to the fact that more people knew the AT&T name than the Cingular name. So thats why the Cingular stores disappeared. They simply changed their name. We’re not dealing with the original AT&T here. It’s actually Southwestern Bell who changed their name to Cingular who bought out and changed their name to AT&T.

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