U.S. moves to block AT&T, T-Mobile merger

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U.S. moves to block AT&T, T-Mobile merger

The United States government today moved to block AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA. Bloomberg reports that the Justice Complaint was filed in federal court in Washington, and seeks a declaration that the deal would violate U.S. antitrust law, as well as a court order blocking any arrangement in which the deal would go through. “AT&T’s elimination of T-Mobile as an independent, low-priced rival would remove a significant competitive force from the market,” the U.S. said in its filing. The acquisition, which was announced in March, would be worth roughly $39 billion in cash and stock, and would give Deutsche Telekom—current owner of T-Mobile USA—an eight percent equity in AT&T.

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Comments

1

As much as I’d like to see the DoJ Complaint upheld, it won’t. It can easily be argued that as long as Verizon, Sprint, and various MVNO’s are in business, the merger presents no antitrust issues.

Posted by Farnsworth on August 31, 2011 at 8:24 AM (PDT)

2

I am an AT&T customer and iPhone 4 user, but I think the DoJ is right. The consumer benefits from the competition between carriers in the U.S. and AT&T would have even more excuse to be lazy with their network. As it stands, they are always under the gun to expand and improve things, which is important. Also, prices are too high as it is. This merger won’t help (well, it will help AT&T, but they don’t need help).

Posted by Drew on August 31, 2011 at 12:13 PM (PDT)

3

I understand AT&T with their business strategy to expand and bring a better coverage to AT&T’s customers. However, this particular merger would push AT&T to a giant. Yes, there is Verizon and Sprint and smaller others. At the end I agree with #1 and #2, it’s a mix….

Posted by Dennis Stahl on August 31, 2011 at 12:59 PM (PDT)

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