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Democracy & Technology Blog AT&T + T-Mobile = ?

Hance Haney
March 20, 2011

Talk about gutsy.
T-Mobile_0.gifAT&T is set to buy T-Mobile for $39 billion.
AT&T is a giant corporation. When AT&T acquires T-Mobile, the number of national wireless providers will go from 4 to 3. And struggling no. 3 (Sprint) may not have anyone with which to partner.
Is this a disaster? Can government protect the little guy?
ATT-Mobility-Communications-Workers-of-America-Reach-Tentative-Agreement-in-Southeast-Mobility-Contract-Negotiations.jpgT-Mobile is dead in the water. It has run out of gas. It can’t make money.
T-Mobile and AT&T are a natural fit because their networks rely on similar technology. Not true for Verizon Wireless and Sprint.
If the government blocks this merger it will force an economically inefficient (and ultimately unsustainable) outcome. Politicians cannot alter the laws of economics.
This merger is likely a good thing for the economy and for consumers. T-Mobile was an inefficient rival. The government cannot protect losers without blocking winners.

Hance Haney

Director and Senior Fellow of the Technology & Democracy Project
Hance Haney served as Director and Senior Fellow of the Technology & Democracy Project at the Discovery Institute, in Washington, D.C. Haney spent ten years as an aide to former Senator Bob Packwood (OR), and advised him in his capacity as chairman of the Senate Communications Subcommittee during the deliberations leading to the Telecommunications Act of 1996. He subsequently held various positions with the United States Telecom Association and Qwest Communications. He earned a B.A. in history from Willamette University and a J.D. from Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon.