U.S. Government Moving to Block AT&T's Acquisition of T-Mobile

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U.S. Government Moving to Block AT&T's Acquisition of T-Mobile

Bloomberg reports that the U.S. government filed a complaint today seeking a court order to block AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile. Antitrust concerns are at the heart of the complaint:

AT&T’s elimination of T-Mobile as an independent, low- priced rival would remove a significant competitive force from the market.​

AT&T first announced its intent to acquire T-Mobile in March, stating that the merger would increase the company's network quality and expand the reach of its LTE capabilities.

AT&T was the only carrier offering the iPhone in the U.S. from its release in 2007 until its exclusive agreement ended earlier this year when Verizon began offering the iPhone 4 in February.

Although T-Mobile has never been an official iPhone carrier in the U.S., the company claimed that over one million iPhones were running on its network earlier this summer. Just last week there were reports that T-Mobile USA would begin offering the iPhone 5 at its release, which is widely expected in October.
 
And I just switch to T-Mobile from Verizon.
 
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what do you think of your switch?
 
Well, T-Mobile has a better deal with the plans compared to Verizon. I'm still having trouble getting my Verizon wireless number to switch to the T-Mobile though, but that's the only problem so far. I switched service last Saturday and the person who was working at T-Mobile said to wait for the switch in a few days. My plan is only the unlimited talk/txt since I don't really need the data plan yet, at least.
 
I always thought porting a number was pretty fast... maybe call tmobile and ask what's up?
 
I started out with nTelos a long time ago, then switched to Sprint years ago, from there moved on to Alltel, then they were bought out by Verizon, and now I'm thinking about switching to Virgin Mobile b/c we can get better phones and save around $40-$60 per month.
 
If AT&T had cheaper data plans for the iPhone I would consider going to them. But instead of paying $130-$150 for our two phones with Verizon we can drop it down to $80-$100 per month with Virgin Mobile.
 
Sprint Sues to Halt Merger of AT&T and T-Mobile USA

Less than a week after the U.S. government moved to block the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile USA, Sprint today announced that it too has filed a lawsuit seeking to halt the merger on antitrust grounds.

The lawsuit names AT&T, AT&T Mobility, Deutsche Telekom, and T-Mobile, and has been filed as a related case to the U.S. government's own complaint filed last week.

“Sprint opposes AT&T’s proposed takeover of T-Mobile,” said Susan Z. Haller, vice president-Litigation, Sprint. “With today’s legal action, we are continuing that advocacy on behalf of consumers and competition, and expect to contribute our expertise and resources in proving that the proposed transaction is illegal.” ​

Sprint’s lawsuit focuses on the competitive and consumer harms which would result from a takeover of T-Mobile by AT&T. The proposed takeover would:

- Harm retail consumers and corporate customers by causing higher prices and less innovation.

- Entrench the duopoly control of AT&T and Verizon, the two "Ma Bell" descendants, of the almost one-quarter of a trillion dollar wireless market. As a result of the transaction, AT&T and Verizon would control more than three-quarters of that market and 90 percent of the profits.

- Harm Sprint and the other independent wireless carriers. If the transaction were to be allowed, a combined AT&T and T-Mobile would have the ability to use its control over backhaul, roaming and spectrum, and its increased market position to exclude competitors, raise their costs, restrict their access to handsets, damage their businesses and ultimately to lessen competition.​

AT&T has touted the proposed merger as a way to provide 4G LTE service to a greater number of customers than possible under current arrangements, utilizing T-Mobile's wireless spectrum to help deploy the new technology. The company has also argued that the merger would result in lower prices and better service while also committing to bring thousands of call center jobs back to the United States and divesting of any portions of T-Mobile USA required in order to satisfy concerns over the deal.​
 
Seven States Join to Block ATT merger

Seven states announce last Friday that they joined the Justice Department in blocking the proposed AT&T acquisition of T-Mobile USA. Among the states that joined the cause are New York, California, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Ohio.

Industry experts said that the states’ involvement in the issue would put additional pressure to prevent the merger from happening. There are speculations that the proposed deal is already on the brink of collapse.

Since the two wireless carriers announced the plans to merge last March, public interest groups have opposed the deal. They said that the sale of T-Nobile to AT&T would harm the consumers because it would reduce the affordability of wireless phone plans. It would also slow down the innovation in the wireless industry.
The Justice Department echoed the sentiments of the groups that opposed the merger. It asked the courts to consider the long term effects of the proposed deal, which it said would be bad for smaller carriers and theconsumers.

Both sides are scheduled to discuss the possibility of a settlement next week. The complaint from the states would complicate the proposed acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T. The wireless carrier said that it would still continue to work on completing the merger.
 
spring offering unlimited data plans, but 5 gigs of tethering data cap.

Sprint will still offer "unlimited" for those using data on-device, but for those who purchase the additional $29.99/mo hotspot plans will be limited to 5GB of data a month. Mobile Hotspot plans allow users to tether their iPhone to their laptops and share their mobile internet connection. This is presumably to prevent individuals from consuming large amounts of data through their laptops. Sprint's on-device mobile plan appears as if it will remain unlimited for the time being.
Click to expand...

SprintFeed reports that Sprint will be limiting its mobile hotspot plans to 5GB of data as of October 2nd -- only days ahead of the rumored iPhone 4S/5 launch.

Bloomberg had reported that Sprint would finally be getting the next generation iPhone when it launches in October. Sprint is expected to provide unlimited data plans for the new iPhone and will be the only U.S. provider to offer such a plan. Both AT&T and Verizon originally offered the iPhone with unlimited mobile data, but later transitioned to tiered plans of limited data.
 
AT&T Merger Deal With Tmobile Fails Due To Opposition

AT&T Inc.'s $39 billion bid to acquire T-Mobile USA came to an end yesterday in a phone call between the companies' chief executive officers, according to people familiar with the matter.

AT&T's Randall Stephenson and Deutsche Telekom's Rene Obermann ultimately agreed the costs of continuing to fight for the deal unveiled nine months earlier were too high, given the opposition from U.S. regulators, the people said. AT&T's bid to close the year's biggest acquisition and become the largest U.S. wireless carrier was over. "They made an unprecedented move bidding on T-Mobile and appear to have miscalculated the risks and the regulatory opposition," said Kevin Smithen, an analyst with Macquarie Capital USA Inc.

AT&T failed to convince the Justice Department, which sued to block the transaction in August, that it could remedy the market impact of absorbing T-Mobile, the nation's No. 4 mobile- phone operator. AT&T would have spent months in litigation to try to win court approval, and the company also faced possible opposition from the Federal Communications Commission.
 
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