AT&T agrees to buy T-Mobile, creating industry giant

Source: http://blogs.ajc.com/business-beat/2011/03/20/att-agrees-to-buy-t-mobile-creating-industry-giant/?cx

3:10 pm March 20, 2011, by Henry Unger

AT&T has agreed to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom AG for $39 billion in cash and stock.

The deal, announced Sunday, combines the No. 2 and No. 4 wireless companies in the U.S.

The agreement has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

The companies said AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile USA “provides an optimal combination of network assets to add capacity sooner than any alternative, and it provides an opportunity to improve network quality in the near term for both companies’ customers.”

In the past, AT&T has been criticized in consumer surveys for inconsistent iPhone service.

The companies said customers will see service improvements — including improved voice quality — as a result of additional spectrum, increased cell tower density and broader network infrastructure. When the deal closes, AT&T will immediately gain cell sites equivalent to what would have taken on average five years to build without the transaction, the news release said.

The companies said the merger also will provide “a fast, efficient and certain solution to the impending exhaustion of wireless spectrum in some markets, which limits both companies’ ability to meet the ongoing explosive demand for mobile broadband.”

The deal is subject to regulatory approvals. The companies expect it to close in about 12 months.
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Read more: AJC

but, I guess T-mobile customers will finally get their I-Phone...even though it means getting consumed by At&T

I have been a t-mobile customer since before they were t-mobile. Just today, I was whining about not being able to ditch my blackberry for an i-phone. I guess they they will merge their product lines, which i will benefit from. Coverage will also improve. Cost/customer service are different matters, however.

i've stuck with t-mob since their inception, 'cos they were pretty good with their fees & service; and 'cos they were not part of the whole incestuous at&t/verizon duopolistic control of the US telecom market; 'cos of t-mob's international coverage - which is magnitudes better than both at&t & verizon; & mostly 'cos of the layoffs of my pals, during the at&t breakup that spawned verizon, like the son of the satanic at&t. judging by all the background chatter -- i doubt the US coverage will get any better under at&t.

well, there goes another domino. there's no alternative to these two scum-sucking megalopolies now. fuck 'em to hell.

It's not like we have any laws against monopolies here.

..concentrated...Yay for free-market capitalism right??? :sarcasm:

It scares the shit outta me, because I'm afraid it will one day be true, but I still laughed hard.

Many, many thanks.

Our collective memory is short. Capitalism continues its unrelenting work towards monopoly. Not because it's a conspiracy but because of the selfish interests of the owners.

This is happening at the same time Century Link and Qwest are merging.

Each time something like this happens, millions of dollars are syphoned out of the company into the personal bank accounts of board members. It has nothing to do with making something better and certainly not about making our communities better.

Prepare for the spin of why this is such a good thing for consumers.

operating companies, keeping only the then very profitable long distance service.

http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=19358&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=31703&mapcode=corporate%7Cfinancial&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AttAllCategoriesRssFeeds+(AT%26T+All+Categories+RSS+Feeds)

this means that I can get an IPhone!

T-Mobile is the nicest company I've ever dealt with but their technology has sometimes lagged behind AT&T and Verizon.

you could have switched to AT&T and done so as well. I think this really sucks as I left AT&T going to T-Mobile getting a better plan for my family.

There will be winners and losers in this deal... I consider myself one of the latter.

:thumbsdown: on this buyout.

They sell themselves.

What phone commercials do you see 24/7?

Commercials for Droids.

There's a reason.

love the service but was missing an iPhone. I would hate to get crappy ATT service.

I really hope this means I can get a cell signal inside my home now. No idea if T-mobile has a tower around, but AT&T sure doesn't.

http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20110320/t-mobile-we-were-totally-kidding-about-atts-crappy-network/

"Here’s an immediate casualty of the AT&T/T-Mobile deal–or at least I assume it will be: T-Mobile’s ad campaign, which is almost entirely focused on insulting AT&T’s network quality (and by extension, insulting Apple’s iPhones, too.)

True, part of the rationale for the $39 billion deal is that combining the two networks will improve AT&T’s quality. But that’s a nuance that may be lost on TV (and Web video) viewers who have been watching T-Mobile explain, over and over and over, why AT&T is a terrible choice................."



:blush:

My my service went to crap. First thing the Ex-Wife and I lost was our international call plan (AT&T wanted more money). The voice mail suddenly had no time and date stamp. AT&T shut-down the local cell tower which made for hit or miss reception at my home. Switched to T-Mobile eventually. Now I have to deal with AT&T again, don't think so!!!

who has not been on a list of spies like AT & T and Verizon? I don't need an I-Phone and will resist anything to do with AT & T. They are not getting me with their purchase.

I can't remember the name of it. As far as the spying goes, wireless by its nature is warrantless. No privacy at all, never was.

I believe they use the Sprint Network.

:grr:

but it's gotten a little too $$$ for me. $90 month just for a blackberry, no 4g or anything like that. i plan to switch to metropcs or cricket when my contract is up in september.

I guess I will put up with it until I can switch to Verizon or Sprint.

but it looks like I'll be switching to CREDO soon. There is no way in hell my $ are going to enrich a RW company like AT&T

Time for a new carrier.

So keep that in mind.

I've been with three primary networks, including CREDO when they were called 'Working Assets,' and they've all sucked one way or another.

broke, and Baby Bell Southwestern Bell, was flush with cash) - ya'll yankees up there had never heard of SW Bell, so it was decided to use the AT&T name.

One thing to keep in mind when moving to CREDO - they do not pay union wages, whereas AT&T does.

From AT&T website:

AT&T has a larger union workforce than the U.S. steel, auto or airline industries — with about 57 percent of our more than 265,000 employees union-represented. We have more full-time bargained-for jobs than any other private company in America.

and

AT&T employees enjoy jobs with industry-leading pay and benefits. For example, in the core contract, which is by far the largest of our 50 union contracts, AT&T network technicians make approximately 42 percent more and call center representatives make approximately 64 percent more in wages and benefits compared to their counterparts in similar companies across the telecommunications and cable industry.

In an era when many companies are either curtailing or totally abandoning such benefits, we stand in our commitment to employee healthcare, dedicated approximately $5.5 billion each year to cover 1.2 million employees.

So when you think about it, when you move from a union workplace to non-union, isn't that the same thing that WI workers have been fighting for? Why is it okay for one industry and not another?

I am really disappointed in T-Mobile in selling out.

To get regulators on board, telecom giant will have to shell out the big bucks



AT&T knows it’s likely to get regulators to clear its proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile. Eventually. But the company also knows that it won’t be easy. Nor will it be cheap.

If last year's deal between Comcast and NBC Universal was any indication, AT&T will need to spend at least as much, if not more, than the $100 million Comcast reportedly spent lobbying Congress and regulators.

AT&T already has a good head start. The company is one of the heaviest hitters in the nation’s capital, spending $15.4 million on lobbying in 2010, according to OpenSecrets.org. Roughly 100 lobbyists work for the telecom giant.


http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/agency/e3ica37f8e7f2926212069300db667e8297

.... I ditched AT&T for their rotten service and have been pretty happy with T-Mobile. I can't even say how much I can't stand AT&T and what a joke our FTC is for allowing the industry to consolidate to nothing.

:hide:

.

I get so much better coverage with T-Mobile, not to mention unlimited internet on my phone. I can kiss that goodbye with ATT.

I HATE ATT with the fires of a thousand suns.

among them the buying out of bellsouth I was willing to give them the benefit of doubt but now.............no.
Why? Because the customer service has gotten worse and the bills keep climbing and climbing while the service gets worse so unless they can improve their service while keeping prices competitive I do not think another major merger for AT&T is justified currently, maybe in a few years down the road but not today.

allow a post-911 Bushco warrantless grab-search into cell phone records, this is a major loss for liberty and democracy.

eom

AT&T’s announcement that it would by T-Mobile for $39 billion in cash and stock is by no means a forgone conclusion despite the assurances in the press release that it would close within the next 12 months. In fact already the consumer groups are calling the deal “unthinkable,” referencing a former FCC chairman’s comments from 1997 about a rumored deal by AT&T to acquire SBC, a regional bell operating company. Ironically in 2005, SBC acquired AT&T in a deal that was no longer unthinkable.

So is the $39 billion acquisition of that nation’s fourth largest mobile operators by its second largest mobile operator unthinkable? That’s the question industry watchers and regulators are asking themselves in the the hours after the deal was announced.

Several sources in Washington D.C. were divided on the idea that the Department of Justice would approve AT&T buying T-Mobile. One source who has held multiple roles in telecommunications politics pointed out that this deal is a vertical integration that can clearly show a decline in competitiveness, so it should be easy for the DoJ to stop, especially since the FCC last year clearly documented how concentrated wireless ownership was becoming using an index the Department of Justice actually uses to determine the concentration of mobile wireless service providers, the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index.

Under that index, the FCC found that the average HHI increased in 2008 relative to prior years. The weighted average of the HHIs was 2848 in 2008, an increase from 2674 in 2007. The weighted average HHI has increased by nearly 700 since the FCC first calculated this metric in 2003. The industry has become more concentrated leading to lowered capital expendisures and higher profits for the largest two players according to the report.

MORE HERE - http://gigaom.com/2011/03/20/att-tmobile-regulators/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+OmMalik+(GigaOM:+Tech)

Shame really, I liked it. Fuck AT&T.

Get locked into a 2 year contract and you will at least have whatever level of service you choose for that time period as I suspect AT&T will have to honor those contracts if the deal goes through.

I am looking at doing this to give myself time to consider my options as I do really like T-Mobile (their rates and coverage) and frankly can make the change later on.

Service has been fair, prices competitive, and problems easily resolved.

and I don't have to put up with AT&T's BS.

should be illegal in this country.

at&t is not the #1 cell phone carrier in the US.

it's like the antitrust suite never took place.

I left at&t because their costomer service sucked. I have been so happy with T-mobile.

I guess I have to switch to Sprint or Verison now.

..I would have gone with AT&T(NSA) in the first place...

Fuck, shit, bugger, damn, fuck, fuck, fuck, arse, tits, fuck, fuck, FUCK!!!

I am NOT happy about this...been with T-Mobile for over 6 years and absolutely love them...

:wtf: :puke:

Democrats staved it off for a few years.

The "regulatory approvals" can be a big deal.

I never got the chance to talk to Ernestine.

Some are not old enough to get the "Laugh-In" reference. Hell, I'm 43, so I watched the re-runs.

I have always used T-Mobile because it was cheaper. There is no way this is going to be good for customers.

Sprint is the only one left with unlimited data plans now, and I'd hate to see Sprint go down and get bought up by Verizon, then we would end up strictly with AT&T vs Verizon.