AT&T Expects to Let Go of Some Markets, Employees in Merger
Some bad news has come out of AT&T’s Randall Stephenson. He shed some light on negative effects of the merger – something I bet they haven’t been trying to talk about – and admits that AT&T will have to drop a few pounds in the process should the FCC grant them T-Mobile’s hand in this very unorthodox marriage. (Yes, I know that joke. No, I won’t tell it… at least not here.)
He told the Wall Street Journal that AT&T would have to divest some markets in order to bring all of those T-Mobile customers over meaning a few of you might have to join up with Verizon or Sprint once it’s all said and done. Randall couldn’t state which markets would be affected which is understandable as the deal hasn’t even been approved yet.
They also regret to inform everyone that some employees will have to be let go as the two entities merge. It’s a common nasty side-effect of mergers in any industry but it never does sit right with us whenever we hear some folks will be out of a job in this troubled economy.
Stephenson did attempt to make this episode more cheery, though, as he states that the merger would make AT&T’s network more reliable and customers may even experience price drops on voice and data plans because of it. We’ll hold our breath on that claim until AT&T actually goes to integrate all of those new customers and contracts, though.