Fear the ‘twin Bells’: Petitions seek to halt AT&T takeover of T-Mobile

Source: Raw Story
By Stephen C. Webster

Mobile phone carrier Sprint and an Internet advocacy group filed petitions this week with federal regulators seeking to halt AT&T's $39 billion acquisition of competitor T-Mobile.

"The merger would remove one competitor from the already consolidated mobile market, leaving Verizon and Sprint as the only other major competitors," the Electronic Frontiers Foundation (EFF) wrote in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission.

"It would result in a single carrier controlling almost 42 percent of wireless subscribers, with approximately 128 million customers and a monopoly in the GSM service marketplace. The merger would also result in two companies, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, controlling nearly 80 percent of the U.S. wireless market."

In a separate petition, Sprint called the potential for a Verizon-AT&T dominated market reason enough to fear the "twin Bells." Sprint officials have already provided testimony regarding the merger to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

More at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/06/01/fear-the-twin-bells-petitions-seek-to-halt-att-takeover-of-t-mobile/