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AT&T, T-Mobile fight back against Justice Dept. in court filing

Written by James Delahunty @ 09 Sep 2011 9:19 User comments (3)

AT&T, T-Mobile fight back against Justice Dept. in court filing Federal court filing argues against Justice Department's challenge to proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile.
If the $39 billion deal goes ahead, AT&T would become the biggest carrier in the United States, jumping above Verizon Wireless. It is currently the second largest provider in the United States, while T-Mobile is the fourth largest.

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit to stop the deal from going ahead last week, citing concerns about competition and prices for consumers. The Justice Department views T-Mobile as an innovative, discount carrier that helps to keep wireless prices down in the market.

"T-Mobile has not been a meaningful or unique innovator in terms of network development and deployment, nor is it likely to become one in the foreseeable future," AT&T argued in the court filing, made with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It wants the court to allow the deal to go ahead and force the Justice Department to pay the costs of this challenge.



The filing argues that the merger would free up spectrum, providing some relief to U.S. smartphone users who are consuming increasingly large amounts of wireless data.

On competition, AT&T and T-Mobile argue that the Justice Department's analysis is too simplistic, looking at it from a national standpoint without taking local markets into account. They argue that 90 percent of U.S. consumers currently have at least five carriers to choose from.

Tags: T-Mobile AT&T
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3 user comments

19.9.2011 21:47

Quote:
T-Mobile has not been a meaningful or unique innovator in terms of network development and deployment, nor is it likely to become one in the foreseeable future

I think that applies a lot more to AT&T than to T-Mobile. I have an idea...force AT&T to shut down since they seem to think it is no big deal for a company to shut down as long as it isn't reinventing the wheel every day.

Quote:

The filing argues that the merger would free up spectrum, providing some relief to U.S. smartphone users who are consuming increasingly large amounts of wireless data.


Yes, the higher costs of data plans and the insane overage charges of AT&T would surely cut use, and therefor there would be more free spectrum.

Quote:

On competition, the AT&T and T-Mobile argue that the Justice Department's analysis is too simplistic, looking at it from a national standpoint without taking local markets into account. They argue that 90 percent of U.S. consumers currently have at least five carriers to choose from.


Yeah...because no one ever leaves a 5-mile radius of the house, so they can just go with whatever joke of a company happens to have ONE TOWER close to them. I know that I have at least 6 companies to choose from...but I can't go 10 miles down the interstate without the first 3 of them losing signal, nevermind backroads...they don't even cover the interstate!

210.9.2011 07:06

T-Mobile was the first carrier to offer an Android phone if I recall.

318.9.2011 09:13

AT&T can suck my fuzzy nuts. I got an unlimited plan and they sent me a $436 bill for one month. I dropped them faster than a fat girl can eat a cupcake. Seriously Fuq them.

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