• Your favorite

    Apple

    ,

    iPhone

    ,

    iPad

    ,

    iOS

    ,
    Jailbreak
    , and
    Cydia
    site.
  • AT&T Withdraws T-Mobile Merger Application From FCC
    by
    Akshay Masand
    Published on 11-24-2011 04:44 PM
    22 Comments Comments


    The original iPhone U.S. wireless carrier, AT&T is starting to believe that the planned merger with T-Mobile is headed for trouble. AT&T announced that it has withdrawn its joint application for FCC approval of what was going to be a $39 billion deal. Previously, the two companies had said that they were going to focus efforts on getting approval from the Justice Department for the merger. But that seems like a stretch since the Department of Justice sued AT&T last August, claiming the merger was anti-competitive and in violation of antitrust laws.

    As of right now, AT&T said it has plans to book a $4 billion charge in the 4th quarter in preparation for the deal failing and also due to having to make a large payment (of up to $6 billion) to T-Mobile, which was guaranteed to the company as a break-up fee. It seems that AT&T auditors want the company to take the financial hit now and the action that AT&T announced today is a sign that the company has low confidence in convincing the FCC or the Justice Department that the deal is good for consumers.

    Previous arguments that AT&T used when bringing up the merger included the creation of many new US jobs. The U.S. government claimed that the merger would result in a massive job loss and higher prices for cellular service. The FCC and the Justice Department weren’t the only opposition that AT&T and T-Mobile would have to face. Competitors were also against the merger, especially Sprint. AT&T was the first company to offer Apple’s iPhone, which has now opened up to Sprint and Verizon. Despite the popular U.S. smartphone being offered on multiple U.S. carriers, AT&T still remains the most popular wireless carrier for the iPhone.

    Does this disappoint many of you T-Mobile users? How do you feel about the possibility of no merger happening? Share any thoughts below!

    Source: AT&T
    This article was originally published in forum thread: AT&T Withdraws T-Mobile Merger Application From FCC started by Akshay Masand View original post
    Categories:
    1. iPhone,
    2. Apple
    Comments 22 Comments
    1. Airwaves182's Avatar
      Airwaves182 - 11-24-2011, 04:45 PM
      Good, better for us consumers
    1. youngone305's Avatar
      youngone305 - 11-24-2011, 04:53 PM
      That's not good I need better service and AT&T it the only wireless company I like
    1. puissance000's Avatar
      puissance000 - 11-24-2011, 04:54 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by Airwaves182 View Post
      Good, better for us consumers
      That's right! The more choices we have the better!
    1. Goldom's Avatar
      Goldom - 11-24-2011, 05:04 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by Airwaves182 View Post
      Good, better for us consumers
      As a person, I agree, choice is better. But as an AT&T customer, I gotta say I wish I was getting all those towers added to my existing plan.
    1. Paco's Avatar
      Paco - 11-24-2011, 06:33 PM
      Sweet
    1. Crazyj29's Avatar
      Crazyj29 - 11-24-2011, 07:41 PM
      Would have been glad to have had the extra towers.
      The merger would have been good for the economy though. It probably would have opened a lot more jobs.
    1. ohthatguyagain's Avatar
      ohthatguyagain - 11-24-2011, 08:26 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by Crazyj29 View Post
      Would have been glad to have had the extra towers.
      The merger would have been good for the economy though. It probably would have opened a lot more jobs.
      I believe AT&T-Mo would've created a ton of temp jobs to unify the organizations over one-two years, but they would've let almost all those folks go afterwards, including a large portion of T-Mo mgmt. Look at the Continental-United merger - a merger of similar proportions, if not greater in magnitude - which was approved by the FCC. Bolshevik Revolution right there.
    1. JonnySoTerrible's Avatar
      JonnySoTerrible - 11-24-2011, 11:26 PM
      This is horrible, the merger would have been a great step forward for setting the standard for wireless phones! I have AT&T and work for sprint, what does that tell you
    1. Orby's Avatar
      Orby - 11-24-2011, 11:45 PM
      Excellent, EXCELLENT news. The leviathan that would have been a GSM monopoly is slain.

      Does this mean T-Mo will see the end of 2015 as a single company? Unlikely, IMO. They've still got a ton of deep-seeded problems, starting with "we need more subscribers" and "our frequency bands are incredibly uncommon."

      For those of you bemoaning the loss of extra AT&T towers, I respectfully ask: AT&T already has a bazillion towers, and in many well-publicized cases, does not manage them very well. What would make AT&T better manage another bazillion towers (plus ~30 million customers)?

      EDIT: While the FCC case has been withdrawn, the DOJ/anti-trust cases have not, and the press release states the sale is still intended to go through. Too early to be celebrating, apparently.
    1. amyking's Avatar
      amyking - 11-24-2011, 11:58 PM
      great information
    1. Truckerbear's Avatar
      Truckerbear - 11-24-2011, 11:58 PM
      Must I remind many of you that there are still lots of areas that AT&T only has Edge and not 3G and certainly not 4G. Yet I pay the same price I am billed the same amount as those on 4G. I am glad the T-Mobile merger didn't go through but I do wish we had more towers. When my contract ends I am going to Verizon if AT&T still has no 3G here.
    1. lov3christian's Avatar
      lov3christian - 11-25-2011, 08:37 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by Airwaves182 View Post
      Good, better for us consumers
      Hopefully but not really in every case. I mean think about it. deutsche telekom (the parent company) is pretty much trying to give t-mobile u.s. away. If t-mobile puts in strong effort into becoming a contender im fine with that, but i don't want to be with a carrier that doesn't really want to be here because more than likely they will drag their feet to upgrade their network and move to lte over hspa+ :/ Mixed feelings i guess. I wish we could have confidence that t-mobile will continue to improve. Yea they released a ton of "4g" android devices but i feel that was a way of staying afloat till the merger finished.
    1. Trooper Sam's Avatar
      Trooper Sam - 11-25-2011, 10:59 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by Goldom View Post
      As a person, I agree, choice is better. But as an AT&T customer, I gotta say I wish I was getting all those towers added to my existing plan.
      For $39 billion, they could put towers wherever they wanted to. The T-Mobile merger to improve coverage was a smokescreen, as it was identified that they could get the same coverage that the merger would provide for a fraction of that amount.
    1. sziklassy's Avatar
      sziklassy - 11-25-2011, 02:49 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by Trooper Sam View Post
      For $39 billion, they could put towers wherever they wanted to. The T-Mobile merger to improve coverage was a smokescreen, as it was identified that they could get the same coverage that the merger would provide for a fraction of that amount.
      I think you are grossly overestimating the cost of putting towers up along with their upkeep. Also, there is no profitability in throwing an additional tower up to a city in the middle of nowhere with a population of 100 that doesn't get any commuter traffic. Simply put, perhaps they could have put a tower everywhere they wanted, but it certainly would not be feasible/profitable in the long run.
    1. TechnoUniversity's Avatar
      TechnoUniversity - 11-25-2011, 03:24 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by Crazyj29 View Post
      Would have been glad to have had the extra towers.
      The merger would have been good for the economy though. It probably would have opened a lot more jobs.
      It would have killed more than it would have made.

      I
    1. Crazyj29's Avatar
      Crazyj29 - 11-25-2011, 07:09 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by Truckerbear View Post
      Must I remind many of you that there are still lots of areas that AT&T only has Edge and not 3G and certainly not 4G. Yet I pay the same price I am billed the same amount as those on 4G. I am glad the T-Mobile merger didn't go through but I do wish we had more towers. When my contract ends I am going to Verizon if AT&T still has no 3G here.
      I live in western Oklahoma and we just got 3G about 3 months ago. I could drive 20 miles east and pick up 3G though. I work in the oil field and there was a lot of places I couldn't make phone calls but AT&T has recently been getting better.
    1. CONVBMW's Avatar
      CONVBMW - 11-26-2011, 02:02 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by Airwaves182 View Post
      Good, better for us consumers
      I agree. ATT are and have always been the devil.

      Then ATT burn.
    1. rmsmillertime's Avatar
      rmsmillertime - 11-26-2011, 03:05 PM
      TMO may not sell to AT&T but they also won't remain independent. Deutche Telecom wants out of the US. Maybe Apple should buy
    1. MYPHONEI's Avatar
      MYPHONEI - 11-27-2011, 09:25 AM
      What's interesting is Tmobile used to be decent
      I see trouble for current Tmobile customers

      1. recently hitting Iphone users and other smartphones with Huge fees for trying to use the service with Data or without

      2. Iphone can only be used with Edge........... so I read

      3. Very poor coverage compared to AT&t, Verizon and Sprint



      Explain to me how is this better? With Tmobile being the last major without Iphone and then only Edge Data, two cups and string is better at times
    1. cmwade77's Avatar
      cmwade77 - 11-28-2011, 11:04 AM
      Ok, I am not sure where everyone is getting better coverage on AT&T than T-Mobile, I have both (AT&T for work and T-Mobile for personal) and I have to say that I often have coverage (3G or better) with T-Mobile, even when AT&T has no coverage at all.I have to say that overall this is great news for the consumers and the economy, by merging with AT&T, I would imagine that at least 90% of T-Mobile staff (because they are much better) would be laid off.As for the data recently hitting iPhone users, all they have to do is call customer service, they will reverse the charges and block data. When we were still being charged for data, they even set up the account to automatically reverse all data charges. Try getting that service with AT&T.As for only being on Edge, T-Mobile's edge is faster that AT&T's 3G these days in my area, which is sad, but true.
    Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
  • We're now on Google+!