The FCC Should Put a Stop to the AT&T Merger With T-Mobile

[Commentary] The duopoly that will result is bad for Americans from coast to coast and border to border.

As the guardian of our nation’s airwaves, it is the intended role of the Federal Communications Commission to regulate interstate and international use of our nation’s broadcast and telecommunications resources. Increasingly that is becoming mobile devices as Americans drop landline phones altogether. Whether it is your smart phone, your GPS device, your Apple iPad or iPhone, your connection is increasingly a wireless one, in your home and outside it. Beyond the FCC, the last line of defense for the American consumer is the Dept. of Justice and its anti-trust review of this deal. We can hope for the best but probably should expect the worst. You can always write to your Congressperson and maybe it will help. Congress was obsessed with the merger between Sirius and XM satellite radio a couple of years ago. There were hearings, hearings and more hearings. That merger mattered little to anyone beyond the now 20 million Sirius XM subscribers and, after extensive review, was finally allowed to proceed with the promise of no price increases for a couple of years. A merger of T-Mobile and AT&T matters to everyone. There are far more people with cell phones than satellite radio receivers. If the FCC wanted something to be proud of in its record, it ought to stop this proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile dead in its tracks.

[Lappin is with Gramercy Capital]