AT&T/Verizon pact alarms backhaul providers

Wireless isn't the only market the nation’s two largest carriers, AT&T and Verizon, stand to dominate if the AT&T/T-Mobile deal is approved, smaller competitors say.

Competition in the market for mobile backhaul services may also be threatened. Citing a new business arrangement between AT&T and Verizon, Lynn Refer, president and CEO of Telecom Transport Management, a small wireless backhaul provider, said that the future of the independent backhaul business may be at risk. Under the pact, Refer and others in the industry said, the two largest wireless companies have a reciprocal arrangement to provide infrastructure to connect each other’s wireless data traffic. Both AT&T and Verizon contended that they purchase backhaul from a number of providers.