AT&T punishes its customers for T-Mo merger’s failure
January 26, 2012
[Commentary] Wondering why AT&T smartphone data rates just went up? Because the operator was denied its acquisition of T-Mobile – at least that’s what AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson implied. AT&T seems awfully bitter about AT&T-Mo’s failure, and now it appears to be taking it out on its customers. After blasting the Federal Communication Commission for “picking winners and losers” in the wireless industry by scrutinizing every deal, Stephenson claimed AT&T is now in a mobile capacity-constrained environment which has forced it to raise prices and manage connection speeds (aka throttle) for its highest volume subscribers. This is just plain vindictive.
AT&T punishes its customers for T-Mo merger’s failure AT&T: We Need Spectrum or Prices Are Going Up (NYTimes) AT&T: We're Still Mad (National Journal)