Holy $*&#, AT&T buys T-Mobile USA

As soon as the merger was announced for AT&T (blue) / Cingular I was allowed to roam on AT&T (blue).

 

Yep...me too. Good Ol' Cingular Extend!

 

Yep, same here.

 

For me it was more Cingular being allowed to work on AT&T instead of being on T Mobile. That was in Long Island, NY

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Now you tell me Orange got to roam right away while Blue had to wait a couple of months? Or is it that CA is special Anyway, I wasn't able to roam on Cingular until April 2004 or so, while the announcement came (IIRC) in February.

 

That's because you were on Blue

 

Lol, I was just about to say the same.

 

I'm not in CA. Washington DC area, and I was able to roam on Blue immediately. Five minutes later my phone would go back to Cingular if I wasn't in a call, but I got around that by hacking a phone and disabling 850. (At the time, Blue was 1900 and Orange was 850). I did this because there was a blue tower a block away, but the orange tower was further out and did not work in my office as well.)

 

Well, should they enable T-Mobile roaming before the deal closes, guess who's gonna be laughing then

 

I think T Mobile users will get it first as the contract calls for roaming if it fails to go through. So why not start from now and make some money from them. But right now, from the data side the most they will see is edge

 

Yes, it makes sense for T-Mobile to get it first, it's just that in CA AT&T customers can really benefit from T-Mobile roaming, and some can benefit from 3G roaming as well

 

I agree with you. I would not be surprised if AT&T did not work out something like that to at least cover their end some how. Actualy they better have done that and not just end up giving away and not getting something in return. A big brake up fee like this has to have some goodies in it for AT&T too and there is no way it can be just one way. They have to cover their you know what just in case.

 

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It certainly helps if your phone supports both AT&T's & T-Mobile's 3G networks.

 

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It most certainly does

 

The announcement of the acquisition alone has a major negative impact on T-Mobile, hence the provisions.

Consumer confidence drops when a company is up for acquisition, probably resulting in a decrease in contract renewals with T-Mobile. Some won't renew out of fear, others will wait until the last minute to lock in low rates.

AT&T's announcement that they would move HSPA+ off 1700 in favor of LTE puts a damper on the limited production of compatible handsets. Most manufacturers already disliked having to produce them, and much less will be spent on engineering and design over the next year on those handsets leading to a long term negative effect on T-Mobile's handset line up.

If this acquisition takes a year and then fails, that's a long time to only pretend to compete with AT&T. T-Mobile stands to lose what little market strength they have, and the consolation prize is appropriately large.

It's probably also large enough that it presents the FTC/DOJ/etc with a higher standard to disapprove the merger--it would pose a significant loss to AT&T and would therefore require more scrutiny of the government's decision.

 

FCC begins review of AT&T's T-Mobile deal

April 14, 2011 10:53 AM PDT
FCC begins review of AT&T's T-Mobile deal
by Marguerite Reardon



The Federal Communications Commission has formally started the process for reviewing the proposed $39 billion merger between AT&T and T-Mobile USA that was announced last month.

The FCC has posted its public notice that establishes procedural rules for the review process and will allow the public to weigh in on the proposed merger. AT&T and T-Mobile will file their formal applications by the end of the month as the FCC considers transferring wireless licenses.
The agency is still not discussing specifics of the review process, but earlier today it held a press conference in which it explained broadly how the agency will evaluate the deal. Specifically, the FCC will do two things. First it has to determine if the deal will meet specific requirements in the Communications Act and FCC rules. And second it will determine if the merger is in the public interest.

The agency will work in conjunction with the Department of Justice, which will be evaluating the merger to ensure it doesn't violate antitrust laws.

For the FCC its "public interest" evaluation will include things such as how the merger will affect competition. This is broader than the standard antitrust review and will consider whether the deal will encourage the deployment of new services.

The FCC will use a test called the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) to measure concentration in a particular market. The commission will also evaluate spectrum coverage, and it will look at how much spectrum is available in certain markets for mobile services. It will evaluate what percentage of that spectrum is held by AT&T and T-Mobile.


Read more: FCC begins review of AT&T's T-Mobile deal | Signal Strength - CNET News

 

Re: FCC begins review of AT&T's T-Mobile deal

I think my doctor gave me one of those during my annual physical. If AT&T is going to be subject to that, they might want to reconsider