FCC questions AT&T over proposed T-Mobile purchase
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has submitted a request for information from AT&T with 50 questions regarding the company's proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA.
In March, AT&T and T-Mobile USA parent company Deutsche Telekom announced plans for AT&T to acquire the rival carrier in a cash and stock deal worth roughly $39 billion. Given that the completed deal would give AT&T a wide margin as the leading wireless carrier with an estimated 130 million users, federal regulators have launched investigations into the merger.
MacNN reported Friday that the FCC filed the questions with regard to "how AT&T's wireless spectrum is being used, the nature of its overall network and why it believed it needed T-Mobile's spectrum to meet its goals for 4G." Officials were also interested in alternative solutions to purchasing T-Mobile that AT&T had considered.
The FCC requested information on AT&T's long-term pricing plans to address concerns that AT&T would leverage its post-merger size to raise rates. AT&T's answers will be kept under wraps during the FCC investigation, as officials "aren't supposed to publicly discuss proceedings until the vote itself," according to the report.
Shortly after the deal was announced, one anonymous FCC official said off the record that AT&T faces a "steep climb" in convincing the commission's chairman to approve the deal.
AT&T remains confident in its chances of getting the merger approved. "We understand that Congress, the DOJ, the FCC, as well as wireless consumers will have questions about the transaction. We look forward to answering and addressing those questions," said a spokesman. "We are confident that the facts will demonstrate that the deal is in the public interest and that competition will continue to flourish."
T-Mobile has warned that federal approval for the acquisition could take up to a year.
The Department of Justice has initiated its own investigation and isn't obligated to share information during its proceedings. The DOJ has reportedly deepened its probe into the acquisition.
Earlier this month, executives from AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint testified at a Senate hearing regarding the deal. Senators expressed concern that the merger would create a duopoly, hurting competitors and consumers. After the CEOs from AT&T and T-Mobile hedged whether their companies were direct competitors, one senator called them out. "Come on. You guys are major competitors. Please," said Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wisconsin.
Sprint has voiced staunch opposition to the deal, asserting that it would create a "Twin Bell" duopoly and "put Sprint to be acquired." However, AT&T asserts that the deal would boost call quality and reduce overseas roaming fees while still maintaining "intense" competition.
In March, AT&T and T-Mobile USA parent company Deutsche Telekom announced plans for AT&T to acquire the rival carrier in a cash and stock deal worth roughly $39 billion. Given that the completed deal would give AT&T a wide margin as the leading wireless carrier with an estimated 130 million users, federal regulators have launched investigations into the merger.
MacNN reported Friday that the FCC filed the questions with regard to "how AT&T's wireless spectrum is being used, the nature of its overall network and why it believed it needed T-Mobile's spectrum to meet its goals for 4G." Officials were also interested in alternative solutions to purchasing T-Mobile that AT&T had considered.
The FCC requested information on AT&T's long-term pricing plans to address concerns that AT&T would leverage its post-merger size to raise rates. AT&T's answers will be kept under wraps during the FCC investigation, as officials "aren't supposed to publicly discuss proceedings until the vote itself," according to the report.
Shortly after the deal was announced, one anonymous FCC official said off the record that AT&T faces a "steep climb" in convincing the commission's chairman to approve the deal.
AT&T remains confident in its chances of getting the merger approved. "We understand that Congress, the DOJ, the FCC, as well as wireless consumers will have questions about the transaction. We look forward to answering and addressing those questions," said a spokesman. "We are confident that the facts will demonstrate that the deal is in the public interest and that competition will continue to flourish."
T-Mobile has warned that federal approval for the acquisition could take up to a year.
The Department of Justice has initiated its own investigation and isn't obligated to share information during its proceedings. The DOJ has reportedly deepened its probe into the acquisition.
Earlier this month, executives from AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint testified at a Senate hearing regarding the deal. Senators expressed concern that the merger would create a duopoly, hurting competitors and consumers. After the CEOs from AT&T and T-Mobile hedged whether their companies were direct competitors, one senator called them out. "Come on. You guys are major competitors. Please," said Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wisconsin.
Sprint has voiced staunch opposition to the deal, asserting that it would create a "Twin Bell" duopoly and "put Sprint to be acquired." However, AT&T asserts that the deal would boost call quality and reduce overseas roaming fees while still maintaining "intense" competition.
Comments
This week all of the plans have changed on their web site matching AT&T's over priced plans.
Anyone really think this deal isn't going to get rubber stamped approval?
Unless you're not in the U.S.
Last week T-Mobile was promoting an "unlimited everything" plan for $79.99. (unlimited voice, data and text)
This week all of the plans have changed on their web site matching AT&T's over priced plans.
Anyone really think this deal isn't going to get rubber stamped approval?
The last time I checked... just 2 seconds ago... T-mobile's plan is still $79.99 for unlimited voice, data, and text...
Unless you're not in the U.S.
Unless you're not looking at their plans page which now lists the $79.99 as "unlimited voice" instead of "unlimited everything" as it was last week.
Now their plans are tiered data instead:
http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/c...oup=individual
Talk + Text + Data (2 GB of high-speed data)
Even More? Ultd Talk + Ultd Text + Ultd Data (2 GB*) More details
compare$79.99/mo.
Talk + Text + Data (10 GB of high-speed data)
Even More? Ultd Talk + Ultd Text + Ultd Data (10 GB*) More details
compare$119.99/mo.
Talk + Text + Data (5 GB of high-speed data)
Even More? Ultd Talk + Ultd Text + Ultd Data (5 GB*) More details
compare$89.99/mo.
Talk + Text + Data (200 MB of high-speed data)
Even More? Ultd Talk + Ultd Text + Ultd Data (200 MB*) More details
compare$69.99/mo.
Last week T-Mobile was promoting an "unlimited everything" plan for $79.99. (unlimited voice, data and text)
This week all of the plans have changed on their web site matching AT&T's over priced plans.
Completely expected.
Unless you're not looking at their plans page which now lists the $79.99 as "unlimited voice" instead of "unlimited everything" as it was last week.
Now their plans are tiered data instead:
http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/c...oup=individual
Talk + Text + Data (2 GB of high-speed data)
Even More? Ultd Talk + Ultd Text + Ultd Data (2 GB*) More details
compare$79.99/mo.
Talk + Text + Data (10 GB of high-speed data)
Even More? Ultd Talk + Ultd Text + Ultd Data (10 GB*) More details
compare$119.99/mo.
Talk + Text + Data (5 GB of high-speed data)
Even More? Ultd Talk + Ultd Text + Ultd Data (5 GB*) More details
compare$89.99/mo.
Talk + Text + Data (200 MB of high-speed data)
Even More? Ultd Talk + Ultd Text + Ultd Data (200 MB*) More details
compare$69.99/mo.
"*Plan price includes $20 unlimited data. Unlimited high-speed data access (2 GB at up to 4G speeds on capable devices). If you use up your 2 GB of high-speed data, we will automatically reduce your speeds for the rest of your billing cycle. That means you will never have to worry about data overages. "
T-Mobile has no clear upgrade path to LTE and DT seems very unwillingly to pony up the cash, so they can only milk their HSPA+ network for so long. Eventually, someone is going to come in with the cash to do it, or they'll end up getting eaten up by the likes of an AT&T anyway. So what difference does it make?
The difference is there are a lot of people that use their phones to make phone calls and could give a crap about 4G or even 3G data service. These people like T-Mobile because they have lower rates in general, and these rates will simply not stay that way once AT&T takes over.
There are also people who like T-Mobile because they are not AT&T.
If we want to see if this merger is a good idea, look no further than user reaction:
- Current AT&T subscribers don't care if it goes through or not.
- T-Mobile subscribers generally DON'T want it to go through.
- Consumer watchdog groups don't want it to go through.
There is nothing really to gain for anyone in this deal except executives of the two companies. Everyone else loses in some way.Last week T-Mobile was promoting an "unlimited everything" plan for $79.99. (unlimited voice, data and text)
This week all of the plans have changed on their web site matching AT&T's over priced plans.
Anyone really think this deal isn't going to get rubber stamped approval?
Completely expected.
So basically the regulatory approval is a farce, then... Since T-Mobile will simply operate as from now on as though it has already been bought, no incentive to compete anyway, right?
What ever happened to the evil Ma Bell. We had to disassemble her because she was throttling competition. It is Ma Bell all over again in duplicate.
If you disassemble a national conglomerate, its representative parts have trouble building a nationwide network. At least, the last ones did, but the way it was split was idiotic.
Through mergers back to gigantic monopolies, the network becomes standardized and fleshed out.
And then it needs to be broken up again, correctly this time, to force competition on the large network. But they won't do it.
the only people this will really upset is sprint, right now they are one of a few under dogs to the big verizon, but with at&T soaking up tmobile, it'll put them into a more comparable standing to verizon and leave sprint feeling left out by comparison, instead of 1 giant and 3 under dogs, just 2 giants and 1 under dog so to speak. excluding all the even smaller underdogs no one talks about these days
Dumb question, why wasn't T-mobile compatible with AT&T spectrum, etc. in the first place? Wouldn't this have given T-mobile a chance to compete as it started out? It could have gotten the iPhone before Verizon, be on a globally-compatible 3G and 4G upgrade path etc.
Last week T-Mobile was promoting an "unlimited everything" plan for $79.99. (unlimited voice, data and text)
This week all of the plans have changed on their web site matching AT&T's over priced plans.
Anyone really think this deal isn't going to get rubber stamped approval?
Yeah unlimited data plans aren't any big deal for carriers when only 5-10% of their customers have smartphones but when 30,40, 50% of them do they have to ration. Spectrum is a finite resource and when supply can't expand to meet demand, price has to increase to ration supply.
T-Mobile's was playing the game with a handicap. Verizon and AT&T were able to leverage their size to obtain exclusivity deals where other carriers weren't able to access popular phones like the iPhone. Prior to the iPhone AT&T had less then 50 million subscribers. At the end of the exclusivity period, it has double that. Further, after the contracts were up people weren't allowed to easily jump ship.
I have tried Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. T-Mobile by far is the best company to deal with out of the three (I know that is subjective, but that is the point).
The difference is there are a lot of people that use their phones to make phone calls and could give a crap about 4G or even 3G data service. These people like T-Mobile because they have lower rates in general, and these rates will simply not stay that way once AT&T takes over.
There are also people who like T-Mobile because they are not AT&T.
If we want to see if this merger is a good idea, look no further than user reaction:
- Current AT&T subscribers don't care if it goes through or not.
- T-Mobile subscribers generally DON'T want it to go through.
- Consumer watchdog groups don't want it to go through.
There is nothing really to gain for anyone in this deal except executives of the two companies. Everyone else loses in some way.