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Well isn’t this quite the shocker? AT&T’s biggest rival – Verizon – actually seems to show support for AT&T in their proposed acquisition of T-Mobile. The quote was made by chief executive Lowell McAdam.
He stated that T-Mobile’s wasting spectrum by not having sufficient capital to reach as many customers that they can. He said that with T-Mobile’s spectrum, AT&T could put it to good use and help improve their network for consumers and help solve this so-called “spectrum crisis”.
With AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile – assuming Ma Bell can even keep half of Magenta’s customers – Verizon might soon lose their narrow lead and title of “largest network in America” ( in terms of subscriber count). It does strike us as odd that Verizon seems to be in verbal support of AT&T, but perhaps they know something we don’t. In any case, their stance (if AT&T does end up winning this bid) does set a precedent for possible moves of their own in the future. [BGR]
GOOD!
Well think about it. It makes a lot of sense because….
1. A bigger AT&T means that Verizon isn’t going to get hounded about being a monopoly.
2. I suspect that Verizon has been eyeing Sprint for a long time with similar ambitions. Quid pro quo, AT&T?
actually, he’s trotting out the line that was debunked (courtesy of ATT’s “accidental leak”). So something shady is going on here, bigtime.
Of course – you can’t have an oligopoly with so many players.
Another Rich dude that doesnt give a damn about customers.
*shrug*
Not a shocker. I have Verizon, but am always jealous of T-mos rates (though their network in my area is horrid). I can imagine for big city folk, Verizon would want T-mo’s superior plans out of the picture, leaving only ATTs rediculous rates to “compete” with Verizons rediculous rates.
What’s this? Verizon and AT&T appearing to act in concert?
I am SHOCKED, I say, shocked.
If there were any justice in the system, they would have already been investigated for their previous collusions (See ETF raises, data caps, plan changes, etc all mirroring each other and happening in matters of weeks between the two of them).
of curse that will open the door for them to over take sprint, man i can see the horns on this guy forehead.
The Verizon comment is not surprising at all. Verizon and ATT want just 2 national carries then they can raise prices together.
Yes, it’s not a shocker at all. It would be in Verizon’s best interest if only them and AT&T remained. But even if Sprint survives, it still means they have less competition.
Sprint doesn’t agree with it because they become weaker against both AT&T and Verizon later, if AT&T buys T-mobile.
My thoughts exactly – they’d love to see decreased competition.
Being among the top 2 providers either way, they have no threat by this deal going through; but the decreased competition reduces the number of other vendors’ pricing they must contend when pricing their own services. It would be a win for them if T-Mobile disappered from existence.
Yes indeed . But on a more immediate level , it would clear the way for Verizon to buy both Metro PCS and US Cellular………and then Sprint if they don’t decide to just leave them as road kill .
I totally agree. T-Mobile is putting the most pressure on Verizon to compete than any other carrier. AT&T often play the same games as Verizon.
this is actually illegal for them to have a partnership to raise prices but then again who will stop them the politicians in their pockets wont got to love our government that only cares about huge coperations and not its people
The people who don’t like att will move to verizon or sprint.
Verizon is going to use “industry consolidation” to make the argument that they need all kinds of governmental support for such things as expanded spectrum and to prevent the FCC from blocking anti-consumer practices like data caps and throttling.
Verizon does NOTHING unless it serves the interest of Verizon.
No no no no…….and just I forget NO!!!!!
He is saying this because if it goes through Verizon can buy Sprint and say they let at&t buy Tmo so why can’t Verizon buy Sprint. It makes perfect sense. Less competition= higher prices they can charge.
AT&T is Verizon’s ally. They both want to raise prices and kill the competition.
Corporate collusion much? I believe so…
Everyone prepare to pay more for your wireless bill than your electric bill. And car insurance. And mortgage.
I agree with @PimpStrong but Verizon don’t be stupid.
It’s actually less competition for Verizon, if you think about it.
From sprint’s perspective, they are going to be way smaller, so they are panicking.
As far as Verizon is concerned, there will be less competitors which makes it easier to raise prices. On top of that, verizon is currently the most expensive provider. They know one of the primary objective of this merger is to raise the price. It provides verizon an opportunity to 1. be more competitive on the pricing and/or 2. raise the price even further
This merger absolutely benefits Verizon.
It really doesn’t damage sprint at all, they just don’t want to be demoted to a grouping with metro pcs.
The only loser is the rest of us.
I never understood sprint’s stance on the buyout. Tmo is sprint’s natural rival so wouldn’t they gain if tmo were out of the picture? Sprint should gain most of the tmo customers that can’t afford at&t prices.
Sprint would likely lose out in the long-run, as AT&T would automatically get any T-mo customers that are still on contract. It’s safe to assume maybe about half of the remainder will go to Sprint, while the other half goes to Verizon. That leaves Sprint with a total gain of about 1/10 of T-Mo’s customers at best. Meanwhile, they won’t be able to keep up with AT&T and Verizon’s networks and phone selections because they simply won’t have enough money. They’ll lose more customers to that, then have to raise prices, cap data, and basically become tiny AT&T to be able to stay afloat financially. Then they’ll either die out, become on-par with Boost mobile, or get bought.
As others have said its all about them raising prices. Even now VZW and AT&T have very similar pricing and policies.
Me to Adam McLowell (more like McLawl):
Let your mom but my wiener.
Thats a damn shame well, time to start preparing to take out loans to help pay our cell phone bills. I can’t imagine how much it will raise but I didn’t see how much the gas price’s would stay this high either. Might revert back to basic phones you know the ones that play simple Java games n make phone calls.
This isn’t surprising. Verizon already knows it can successfully compete against AT&T and if AT&T buys T-Mobile, that obviously removes T-Mobile as a competitor and makes Sprint largely irrelevant. Thus, AT&T is their only concern, and like I stated, they already know how to deal with them. Its a winning situation for Verizon too because it largely becomes a two horse race between Verizon and AT&T.
Has anyone considered that Verizon may say this because if they let AT&T but T-Mo they can justify the purchase of Sprint?
It becomes a matter of ‘you let them do it, why not let us do it?’
Just another angle to consider.
Subscribers who chose T-mobile over AT&T as far as GSM goes will shift to the better of the CDMA operators(Verizon) once AT&T takes over T-Mobile. This is going to benefit Verizon in a big way.
Or reluctantly stay because being able to drop in a prepaid SIM while travelling is the reason we chose a GSM provider in the first place.
att already bought out all the gsm operators tmobile is the last one
You know that something is up when a direct competitor of the merger “supports” being put into 2nd place. Red flags everywhere…
So Verizon don’t care if T-Mobile disappears when AT&T takes their name away. And as long they are the top #1 carrier in the nation they could care less bout Sprint Complaints. Think he’s dumb for saying that cause it will loose more jobs if they merge together and less T-Mobile stores
Lol this guy is funny yes let competition get better networks while i get 1/2 those customers, less competition, higher prices, better profits.
We’re not fools
This is not a shocker…
“LET THE DUOPOLY PRICE FIXING BEGIN!” Can you hear us taking your money now? What about now? What about next year when your contract still hasn’t expired?
Spectrum is the key. If AT&T takes over T-Mobile, they will likely be forced by regulators to sell off or forfeit a portion of the spectrum. This would benefit all (including consumers IMHO) by better utilizing the total spectrum available.
Yeah Big Red all for it cause it allows price hikes cause then most willhave no choice either big red or At&t.
T Mobile is the worlds 12th largest carrier… Verizon is 21st.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_network_operators .. T Mobile is and not has has not been losing money, even though they have been losing customers because of the merger they have continued to make profits.. This merger thing was a mistake IMHO by DT … To me, having the most customers, or the largest service area, only goes so far.. I have T Mobile, and I have never run into a situation where I needed my phone to work and it didn’t.. with a phone that is the most import thing to me.. now as to 3G/4G When I have wanted it, it was always there.. that said, I do have a relative that lives in an area where T Mobile is not available, the phone works fine there, but edge only.. but I can survive the little time I am actually in those boonies.. The idea that you have to be “the biggest” or you are a failure is just stupid.. AT&T and Verizon will get too big, if they are not already.. I already think AT&T should be forced to separate their mobile division from their other entities, it would benefit their customers of all their products.
Sort of correct. Verizon is owned half by Vodaphone which is larger than Tmobile.
This does not shock me one bit after all Verizon is/was a baby bell i bet there working with AT&T to see that there is only Verizon and AT&T for mobile service in the US.
so what would the negatives be for Verizon?
1) may or may not lose the “top spot” to ATT
the positives:
1) 1 less company to compete with
2) lion’s pick most likely when ATT sells off their token resources to avoid getting the deal shut down
3) presidence(sp?) to start buying up smaller companies.
so how would this help consumers?
… *crickets….