Verizon neutral but supportive of AT&T's T-Mobile acquisition

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Verizon Wireless chief executive Lowell McAdam has described AT&Ts acquisition of T-Mobile as inevitable while warning that the government should not regulate without passing legislation and without addressing the underlying issue of limited carrier spectrum.



Speaking to an investor conference yesterday, McAdam said of the deal "that match had to occur," cautioning that if the government decides to block wireless mergers it must also also solve the problem of providing the wireless spectrum that carriers need to meet growing demand, according to report by the Wall Street Journal MarketWatch blog.



"We need to be very thoughtful on what the impacts would be to the overall industry if this is a way to regulate the industry without actually passing regulation," McAdam said.



In discussing the deal with US Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski, McAdam said, "I have taken the position that the AT&T merger with T-Mobile was kind of like gravity. It had to occur, because you had a company with a T-Mobile that had the spectrum but didn't have the capital to build it out. AT&T needed the spectrum, they didn't have it in order to take care of their customers, and so that match had to occur."



A variety of 70 House Democrats and 100 Republican representatives have publicly urged support for the deal, although critics have charged that most of them had previously received campaign contributions from AT&T.



Republicans tend to favor the deal in support of limited interference by the government, while Democrats support the deal because AT&T has committed to billions in private investment to create jobs, in addition to the fact that AT&T is unionized, while T-Mobile's employees are not.



According to a report by TechCrunch, at least 11 states, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming, have also endorsed the deal, as they stand to benefit from the buildout of LTE networks AT&T plans to contract using T-Mobile's spectrum.



Seven other states, New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington, have supported the Department of Justice suit seeing to block or at least modify the terms of the deal to ensure competition.



Sprint, the third largest US carrier behind Verizon and AT&T, is vehemently opposed to the deal, but AT&T has pointed out that while Sprint has officially pleaded that the deal would limit the nation to just three large carriers, Sprint also floated the idea of buying T-Mobile itself.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    decides to block wireless mergers it must also also solve the problem



    Maybe AI could also also solve their problem of not proofreading articles. This is #6 for today.
  • Reply 2 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Maguro View Post


    Maybe AI could also also solve their problem of not proofreading articles. This is #6 for today.



    Please just shut up. Thanks.
  • Reply 3 of 20
    Didn't Deutsche Telekom AG... the parent company of T-Mobile US... want to get rid of it anyway?



    Seems like if AT&T doesn't buy it... T-Mobile US as we know it won't be around much longer regardless.
  • Reply 4 of 20
    mr. hmr. h Posts: 4,870member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    Please just shut up. Thanks.



    There's an ignore list for a reason; use it!
  • Reply 5 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. H View Post


    There's an ignore list for a reason; use it!



    Really? We're going to let someone post absolutely nothing but grammar and spelling corrections?
  • Reply 6 of 20
    mr. hmr. h Posts: 4,870member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    Really? We're going to let someone post absolutely nothing but grammar and spelling corrections?



    I don't intend on banning him. The piss-poor (non-existent?) proof-reading of AI articles annoys me too. If AI didn't typo all the f*ing time, Maguro's typo-related posts would stop. If you don't want to read his posts, add him to your ignore list.
  • Reply 7 of 20
    Quote:

    Verizon "neutral but supportive...".



    I know who's getting a dictionary for Christmas.
  • Reply 8 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Michael Scrip View Post


    Didn't Deutsche Telekom AG... the parent company of T-Mobile US... want to get rid of it anyway?



    Seems like if AT&T doesn't buy it... T-Mobile US as we know it won't be around much longer regardless.



    Sounds like a good summary of the situation. I kinda like it that Verizon wants to play the game heads up instead of reaching out to big brother to beat down someone.
  • Reply 9 of 20
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. H View Post


    I don't intend on banning him. The piss-poor (non-existent?) proof-reading of AI articles annoys me too. If AI didn't typo all the f*ing time, Maguro's typo-related posts would stop. If you don't want to read his posts, add him to your ignore list.



    I'm annoyed by sloppy articles too, but I don't think his method is effective, and only serves to be a nuisance. The authors very rarely post, I don't know if they even read these threads, so they'll probably never notice. I've messaged him that emailing the authors would probably be a lot more effective.
  • Reply 10 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Maguro View Post


    Maybe AI could also also solve their problem of not proofreading articles. This is #6 for today.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    Please just shut up. Thanks.



    Keep up the good work, Maguro! I like what you do.
  • Reply 11 of 20
    Verizon doesn't oppose because it's got an eye for Sprint down the road?
  • Reply 12 of 20
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member
    Those rumors have persisted for 6 years. Kind of like the Apple is going to buy Disney, Netflix, Universal Music Group, TiVO, Adobe, or whatever the flavor of the week happens to be. Good thing I didn't hold my breath for those. Deutsche Telekom itself has debunked the so called rumors.



    Yet, T-Mobile US is DT's most profitable and most promising operation. More so then in Europe. Though you do not hear rumors of DT wanting to sell the European division of T-Mobile. For good reason: it is utter BS.



    T-Mobile in a down market made 4.5 billion in profit in a 9 month period of time this year. Moreover, just this year DT CEO publicly bragged to Investors about how good the US market is.



    If you read those statements, it doesn't sound like T-Mobile US is exactly hurting. You are buying into the AT&T hogwash machine.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Michael Scrip View Post


    Didn't Deutsche Telekom AG... the parent company of T-Mobile US... want to get rid of it anyway?



    Seems like if AT&T doesn't buy it... T-Mobile US as we know it won't be around much longer regardless.



  • Reply 13 of 20
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member
    Verizon doesn't want to play the game heads up. The merger benefits Verizon as it creates a Duopoly. Verizon and AT&T work well together. One raises the price. The other follows. Show me a time that hasn't happened. The problem is those pesky little competitors T-Mobile and Sprint who don't follow along. Boy it would be nice to get rid of one of them. Verizon stands to gain some of the pissed off T-Mobile customers as many T-Mobile customers are former AT&T customers who don't want to go back (myself included).



    Moreover, Verizon doesn't care about AT&T. It just doesn't like government regulation. It figures if the government is willing to defend consumers against a competitor, it might try to put a stop to some of its anti-competive behavior. It is like two competing mob families joining together to take out a mutual enemy.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ChristophB View Post


    Sounds like a good summary of the situation. I kinda like it that Verizon wants to play the game heads up instead of reaching out to big brother to beat down someone.



  • Reply 14 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TBell View Post


    Verizon doesn't want to play the game heads up. The merger benefits Verizon as it creates a Duopoly. Verizon and AT&T work well together. One raises the price. The other follows. Show me a time that hasn't happened. The problem is those pesky little competitors T-Mobile and Sprint who don't follow along. Boy it would be nice to get rid of one of them. Verizon stands to gain some of the pissed off T-Mobile customers as many T-Mobile customers are former AT&T customers who don't want to go back (myself included).



    Moreover, Verizon doesn't care about AT&T. It just doesn't like government regulation. It figures if the government is willing to defend consumers against a competitor, it might try to put a stop to some of its anti-competive behavior. It is like two competing mob families joining together to take out a mutual enemy.



    I second that 100%. If this purchase deal goes through I have no choice but to become a Sprint customer.
  • Reply 15 of 20
    I'm not really worried about this potential merger anymore. It's not a hostile takeover and the government appears to be doing its part to keep it above board. Regardless of what happens I don't think the rates for customers will get any better or worse because of it, so why worry.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Maguro View Post


    Maybe AI could also also solve their problem of not proofreading articles. This is #6 for today.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    Please just shut up. Thanks.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. H View Post


    There's an ignore list for a reason; use it!



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    Really? We're going to let someone post absolutely nothing but grammar and spelling corrections?



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. H View Post


    I don't intend on banning him. The piss-poor (non-existent?) proof-reading of AI articles annoys me too. If AI didn't typo all the f*ing time, Maguro's typo-related posts would stop. If you don't want to read his posts, add him to your ignore list.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    I'm annoyed by sloppy articles too, but I don't think his method is effective, and only serves to be a nuisance. The authors very rarely post, I don't know if they even read these threads, so they'll probably never notice. I've messaged him that emailing the authors would probably be a lot more effective.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    Keep up the good work, Maguro! I like what you do.



    Now there are 8 posts dedicated to discussing a single, silly typo that doesn't make the context confusing to the reader. I agree with JeffDM, it's sloppy on AI's part but posters shouldn't be able to jack threads by only their pedantic OCD nonsense.
  • Reply 16 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TBell View Post




    Those rumors have persisted for 6 years. Kind of like the Apple is going to buy Disney, Netflix, Universal Music Group, TiVO, Adobe, or whatever the flavor of the week happens to be. Good thing I didn't hold my breath for those. Deutsche Telekom itself has debunked the so called rumors.



    Yet, T-Mobile US is DT's most profitable and most promising operation. More so then in Europe. Though you do not hear rumors of DT wanting to sell the European division of T-Mobile. For good reason: it is utter BS.



    T-Mobile in a down market made 4.5 billion in profit in a 9 month period of time this year. Moreover, just this year DT CEO publicly bragged to Investors about how good the US market is.



    If you read those statements, it doesn't sound like T-Mobile US is exactly hurting. You are buying into the AT&T hogwash machine.



    Then why is DT even entertaining the idea of selling T-Mobile USA to AT&T?



    If they're doing so well... sounds like they should have said NO from the beginning.



    If T-Mobile USA is more profitable than T-Mobile Europe.... why would they sell their golden goose?
  • Reply 17 of 20
    If Verizon is talking about getting more spectrum later on, it says 1 of 2 things:

    1. Verizon is running out of spectrum

    or 2. They are being supportive of AT&T.



    The government better not let this deal go through because consumers lose and the carriers win! Especially since AT&T openly stated that they didn't want to spend $3.8 million to extend and create a decent network, instead they wanted T-mobile.



    And as for DT, they get something like 10% of AT&T if the merger goes through (search the internet for details).



    Besides, why doesn't Verizon have spectrum issues?
  • Reply 18 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by robbydek View Post


    If Verizon is talking about getting more spectrum later on, it says 1 of 2 things:

    1. Verizon is running out of spectrum

    or 2. They are being supportive of AT&T.



    The government better not let this deal go through because consumers lose and the carriers win! Especially since AT&T openly stated that they didn't want to spend $3.8 million to extend and create a decent network, instead they wanted T-mobile.



    And as for DT, they get something like 10% of AT&T if the merger goes through (search the internet for details).



    Besides, why doesn't Verizon have spectrum issues?



    VZ has been very aggressive in buying spectrum when it's come up for auction, and they've also made lots of acquisitions over the years (some big, some small). They invest a lot of capital in their network.
  • Reply 19 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Michael Scrip View Post


    Then why is DT even entertaining the idea of selling T-Mobile USA to AT&T?



    If they're doing so well... sounds like they should have said NO from the beginning.



    If T-Mobile USA is more profitable than T-Mobile Europe.... why would they sell their golden goose?



    Very good questions.
  • Reply 20 of 20
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member
    If you owned a profitable business worth a hundred thousand and I offered you 4 times that plus an opportunity to share in my profits through stock as I fleece your former customers would you take the deal? If so, there is your answer.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Michael Scrip View Post


    Then why is DT even entertaining the idea of selling T-Mobile USA to AT&T?



    If they're doing so well... sounds like they should have said NO from the beginning.



    If T-Mobile USA is more profitable than T-Mobile Europe.... why would they sell their golden goose?



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