Sprint Plans To Take Concerns To Congress Over AT&T, T-Mobile Deal

[BlackBerry Brian]

This isn't over yet folks! Great read here!

Sprint Plans To Take Concerns To Congress Over AT&T, T-Mobile Deal

[papped]

I think it's a hard sell when Verizon knows they can compete and aren't even going to contest the merge...

[BlackBerry Brian]

Originally Posted by papped

I think it's a hard sell when Verizon knows they can compete and aren't even going to contest the merge...

Verizon already knows most customers on the other carriers will switch to them soon enough, no need to buy Sprint to accomplish that.

Sprint is SCREWED if AT&T successfully acquires T-Mobile, they have every right to put up a fight, as this article explains.

I have planned already to switch to Verizon for the last several months, so none of this really bothers me as long as Verizon prices don't increase as a result of the outcome.

I am Monaco bound!

[Artemis68]

Eh, T-Mobile already lost me. I switched to VZW yesterday. I'm back on my mom's family plan now.

Sprint can contest all they want but it sounds like AT&T has met with lawyers about this deal and legally dotted their i's and crossed their t's on this one. I'm expecting it to go through.

[papped]

Originally Posted by BlackBerry Brian

Verizon already knows most customers on the other carriers will switch to them soon enough, no need to buy Sprint to accomplish that.

Sprint is SCREWED if AT&T successfully acquires T-Mobile, they have every right to put up a fight, as this article explains.

I'm not claiming that they shouldn't put up a fight, I'm saying they don't really have any grounds on a monopoly basis, because there is solid competition in the US wireless market...

Sprint can't compete because they haven't been competing very well with the status quo. So if AT&T gets bigger, yeah they're screwed. But it's not a monopoly by a long shot...

[Artemis68]

I've heard that AT&T has been meeting with lots of lawyers, particularly anti-trust ones, for this deal. sounds like they are well aware of what they are doing in terms of monopoly laws and are confident that this deal is going to go through.

[WebbyBabe]

I don't think TMobile should merge with AT&T.

[Slingbox]

All consumers loss if merge is allowed.
Those that want it to happen need to get their heads checked.

[Gawain]

Sprint has some valid points, but their argument falls with regards to backhaul and last-mile access. They have their own Tier 1 backbone with data centers all over the country. They sold off their local teleco (spun off as Embarq, now owned by CenturyTel) which had a decent sized footprint and wasn't totally rural. This is a fruit of several bad decisions by Sprint over the years.

The other factor Sprint is outgunned on is lobbyists. There was an article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday discussing that very issue, and simply put, AT&T has big guns. They spend ten-times what Sprint does on lobbyists in DC. Sprint's only hope is to appeal to each state's Attorney General and push it from that end.

I don't think the merger is a good idea. But, the numbers for AT&T work, even though the divestitures will be huge. It does pose a duopoly that others will simply be grafted out of, but Sprint needs a stronger argument than that. Whether they can pool together a strong enough team with talent to make the case remains to be seen. Sprint needs that more diverse pool, or they won't be able to maintain relevance to their investors and that albatross known as Clearwire will also implode on them.

[njblackberry]

Sprint blew it when they bought Nextel and thought that would help them grow (as customers switched from Nextel to Sprint). Except they switched to Verizon.

As a very long time T-Mobile customer, I don't like that this will likely increase prices, but at the same time will improve my coverage.

[BoldtotheMax]

How is it not a monopoly when there are no other GSM carriers now? Least big contenders....not sure if some of the smaller carriers like boost and the like are GSM or not...

In my eyes it is considered a monopoly....

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[papped]

Boost is owned by Sprint... Virgin is owned by Sprint.

Lack of GSM competition is not the same thing as lack of wireless competition.

[dcgore]

How can people argue that there's fair competition when the acquisition occurs. ATT will have 125 Million subscribers with VZ around 100 Million but then there's one final player sprint with 40 Million.

I don't think it would take long for sprint to be sold or go bankrupt under those conditions, then we will only have 2 choices. Would you guys want the same across other industries, airlines for instance. If you think flying is terrible nowadays, think if we only had 2 airlines to choose from. Same thing will happen with the cellphone industry.

[papped]

^^ By your own numbers, is Sprint so insanely better off simply because Tmobile exists on its own?

Tmobile is headed for bankruptcy on a faster track than Sprint is and DT has been trying to sell it off for years.

Sprint isn't much safer either way. People forget that Tmobile has been in bad shape for a while now and Sprint is currently in trouble regardless. Expect VZ to poach quite a few subscribers until Sprint gets their LTE act together (considering they have zero iphone userbase and wimax will have to be transitioned). You might end up with 2 choices whether this merger happens or not, the only difference will be the slow demise of Tmobile...

[dcgore]

Originally Posted by papped

^^ By your own numbers, is Sprint so insanely better off simply because Tmobile exists on its own?

Tmo You might end up with 2 choices whether this merger happens or not, the only difference will be the slow demise of Tmobile...

Absolutelly, smaller does not mean incapable. Today's discount carriers compete on, well, price and i much rather have opportunity to choose than just having to deal with something.

I just read an article on how Time warner cable is the only broadband provider in some area of North Carolina and how its residents are being charged an insane amount for subpar service (i believe 1.5 megs per sec download) $99. Legislators in that state were taking a vote on opening up that market to more providers or just leaving TWC. Well, it turns out that if it were to be opened, NC residents will be able to pay the same amount of money but get phone and internet at faster speeds for the same price. And no the competitor is not verizon or Att, it's a very small company.

If things turn out as you say, no sprint or tmobile, you'll just have to DEAL with your cellphone service; no choices. This is not a luxury anymore, mobile phone service is more and more a necessity as land lines become a thing of the past.

I live in a building in Manhattan and hate that i can't get better cable tv from say direct tv or dish because my landlord does not want satellite dishes sticking out. I am only able to get TWC or RCN. I could be paying $19 a month for what i pay $59.99 but can't. I guess you would say, just move out of that building and yes that's a CHOICE i have, but what if i didn't all together?