Public Knowledge Statement on Congressional Letter regarding AT&T Takeover of T-Mobile

We thought the issues of job creation and investment had long been settled. It is perfectly clear that AT&T’s history has been to destroy jobs, not to create them. The company has shed 10,000 jobs a year for the past ten years. There is no reason to believe that the takeover of T-Mobile will do anything to change that dynamic.

To the contrary, T-Mobile has created jobs at the same time AT&T has cut them. And by removing T-Mobile’s investment, the amount of money spent on improving the wireless networks will less, not more. It is discouraging that those simple facts have not yet been accepted by policy makers who continue to push for a deal that’s bad for our economy, bad for consumers and bad for technological innovation. We also note that the Administration has characterized the Justice Department suit to block the transaction as a ‘law enforcement’ action and we question whether it is proper even to ask for the Administration to consider a settlement under those circumstances.