What Does The AT&T/T-Mobile Merger Mean For You?

[Commentary] If you are Latino, and you subscribe to T-Mobile cell phone service, you are in the norm. Nearly 25% of T-Mobile’s 34 million customers are Latino. Why are we such big fans of T-Mob? Probably because it is more affordable than all of the other national cell phone service providers. Or maybe because it has flexible plans that suit our diverse needs. Or perhaps because it has good customer service. For some time now T-Mob has been a maverick in the cellular market, inspiring a competitive spirit that keeps all of our phone bills lower than they would be without its presence, whether we connect through T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Cricket, Metro PCS, or some other provider.

Countless Latinos stand to lose their jobs as a result of AT&T’s plans to “reduce redundancies” between the two companies. In the past decade, both AT&T and T-Mobile have hired large numbers of Latinos to staff and manage their retail stores and to provide billingual customer service for billing and other issues. Now, AT&T is proposing that if it is allowed to buy T-Mobile that it would consolidate retail stores and billing systems, leading to layoffs and eliminating opportunities for new employees to get their feet in the door.