The AT&T/T-Mobile Merger: Is Humpty Dumpty Being Put Back Together Again?

A lot of myths were perpetuated by some witnesses at the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing regarding AT&T's proposed acquisition of T-Mobile. Public Knowledge argued that AT&T should “stop operating” three different types of technologies, a system which they view as “inefficient” and spectrally “wasteful.” What would that look like?

The fact that AT&T prefers to condemn millions of people to backwards technology for years to come to save money is irrelevant.

The idea of businesses and consumer advocacy groups speaking to Senators about corporate mergers is enough to induce sleep. But let's not underscore the importance of these types of hearings.

There was a notable hissing sound emanating from Capitol Hill at the end of last week. It was the air being let out of AT&T’s trial balloon, “The Inevitable.”

At a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on AT&T’s proposed purchase of T-Mobile, it was hard to find anything but tepid support for the merger of the nation’s second- and fourth-largest wireless providers.

On May 11, 2011, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary's Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights held a hearing entitled "The AT&T/T-Mobile Merger: Is Humpty Dumpty Being Put Back Together Again?" Skeptical senators questioned AT&T about what the deal would do for consumers

The problem isn't the merger, it’s that this merger will be decided by a Department of Justice and an Federal Communications Commission that’s playing by the old rules. Those rules don’t take into account the future needs of the mobile industry; how different the relationship between the players in that industry have become; nor how those changes affect competition.

Free Press has issued a preliminary analysis of key antitrust problems with AT&T's proposed $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile.

AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson plans to tell a Senate Judiciary subcommittee that the acquisition of T-Mobile is "all about consumers." According to a copy of his testimony, he will argue that the deal is "all about keeping up with consumer demand." Public Knowledge President Gigi B. Sohn will oppose AT&T’s takeover of T-Mobile, arguing that the deal will “return the United States to a duopoly market marked by higher prices and less innovation.”

Capitol Hill is concerned that the government could end up footing the bill for an expensive promise from AT&T.

Approving AT&T's proposed merger with T-Mobile would be akin to putting Humpty Dumpty together again, the advocacy group Free Press says.

AT&T's controversial $39 billion takeover bid for T-Mobile USA enters the political arena this week as the phone giant faces its first congressional hearing and various sides in the telecommunications battle ramp up their lobbying efforts to win over government officials.

Do you believe in fairy tales? AT&T wants you to.