House Judiciary chairman Lamar Smith pledges support for AT&T, T-Mobile merger

By on Aug 2, 2011 at 5:25 PM
mobile August 2, 2011

House Judiciary Committee chairman Lamar Smith wrote a letter to FCC chairman Julius Genachowski and Eric Holder, the Attorney General of the United States, on Tuesday expressing his support of AT&T’s planned $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile. Smith said he believes the FCC and the Department of Justice have only heard “one side of the story” from members of congress who provided “limited information” during recent briefings. Smith also said that his committee has “heard evidence” that the merger will:

Substantially improve the quality of the capacity of its broadband network thereby creating jobs an spurring innovation; use existing spectrum more efficiently to overcome the current spectrum shortage; expand its LTE mobile broadband Internet service to 97% of America including much of rural America; and provide better service to its customers thereby giving its competitors an incentive to improve their service.

Smith said any evidence from the congressional hearings that omits the aforementioned points “paints an incomplete picture.” Sprint has been one of the most vocal opponents of the merger and has said that, in contrast to creating jobs and innovation, the acquisition will “stifle” innovation in the U.S. Wireless market. Read on for more.

AT&T said Microsoft, Facebook, 76 Democratic members of congress, 72 mayors, 6 governors and “unions representing 20 million members,” are in support of the merger. However, Senator Herb Kohl, chairman of the the Senate antitrust committee has called on federal regulators to block it. In addition, Senator Al Franken said the acquisition will “affect consumer prices, customer service, innovation, competition in handsets and the quality and quantity of network coverage.”

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  • Anonymous

    Its because ATT donate to your campaign. N you shouldnt be lobbying @ Congress Mr. Senator. And its not fair for T Mobile consumers if their plan or T Mobile name gets taken away by the greedy company.

  • OCTheo

    These idiots pledging support are the ones who will be laid off when this anti-competitive merger occurs.

    Who knows how much bribery money he received. Shame on American politicians. They will sell their mothers for money.

  • ams1650

    Sure he’s for it.

    How many shares of each company does this political blow hard own????

  • http://twitter.com/chpid Ben S.

    The House Judiciary Committee chairman’s comments reflect a complete lack of understanding of the situation. Which, to me, warrants further criminal investigation into his personal doings and finances as it is suspicious that he adopts this point of view without any substantive evidence.  Perhaps the FBI’s public corruption squad is already on this.  One can only hope.

  • txpatriot

    State PUCs in Arizona, Louisiana, and West Virginia have approved the merger. And attorneys general in the following states also recommend approval: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.  So I guess gov’t officials at every level, all across the country, are on the take?  Well, that’s one theory. 

    The other theory is that the merger might actually be in the public interest.  So by Occam’s Razor . . .

    • http://twitter.com/chpid Ben S.

      If the state authorities in question demonstrate that they clearly understand what the ramifications are by issuing their own genuinely crafted statements, and have specific evidence on what they base their own beliefs on, I would not recommend such an investigation.  

      However, due to the fact that this individual in particular is parroting what the AT&T line is, and clearly demonstrates no ability to understand the implications of such a merger, it bears further scrutiny on how close their ties truly are.

  • Anonymous

    At least he could have mixed it up a bit instead of just reading the press release from at&t. I would respect him so much more is he just started his announcement by saying: “Hi, I’m Lamar Smith and I’m a TOOL!…”

  • Anonymous

    Wow, I never thought I would agree with Al Franken on anything… until now.

  • EDDIE BOYLES

    I DONT THINK THEY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO MERGE, ATT WILL OWN ALL TOWERS AND IF YOU DECIDE TO GO WITH ANOTHER PROVIDER, YOU WILL PAY FOR HIGHER PRICED ROAMING CHARGES.  ALL TOWERS NOW BELONG TO ATT OR T-MOBILE. IF YOU CONTROL THE SERVICE, YOU CONTROL THE CELL PHONE BUISNESS

    • txpatriot

      You’re right — obviously neither Verizon (largest wireless carrier in the US) nor Sprint (no. 3 wireless carrier in the US) own ANY towers.  Not a single one . . .

  • RICO

    Another cooked Politician!!!

    • RICO

      Oops, I meant crooked, lol

  • Carbmonster

    Lamar Smith received 12000 dollars from att last year for his campaign so I believe its fair to say he is a little biased.

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