Earlier today, AT&T's bid to take over T-Mobile USA hit its first roadblock as the United State Department of Justice filed an antitrust complaint in an attempt to block the deal from happening. The move, according to the DOJ, was done because it would "remove a significant competitive force from the market." T-Mobile, of course, is one of the largest carriers in the United States.
The smoke has cleared a little bit and we now have two responses from two of the carriers that have been watching this deal the closest. AT&T and Sprint. AT&T of course wants the deal to go through. Both AT&T and T-Mobile have cited a spectrum crisis as one of the main reasons it wants to buy up its competitor. Sprint, on the other hand, has argued that it would destroy competition in the mobile arena.
While the Department of Justice's move is certainly a significant hurdle that AT&T is now facing, the deal is far from dead. Just be prepared to hear about a lot of maneuvering in court in the near future.
Which carrier was recently rated as the worst among the big four networks…if u know the answer then todays decision by DOJ and partly by FCC says it all. The bigger picture is…the four major carriers operating in our mobile space ensures a vibrant competitive and innovative environment for all.
My hunch is that the Gov is leveraging for some "privacy cooperation" concessions they want from the new entity. These things are rarely decided with the best interests of the consumer in mind. It's all lobbyists and hand greasing that decideds these "legal" issues.
One realistic scenario is the gov wants a certain, more intrusive level of cooperation in supplying customers private info. AT&T has already been exposed in allowing NSA to create numerous NSA secured rooms in their data hubs which filter and monitor all internet data and communication passing through said hubs. A little-known company called Narus Systems makes the packet-inspection technology. The Narus computer system is so powerful (back in 2006) that it can sort through and index completely all the books in the Library of Congress in 15 minutes. It's a info gobbling monster! Look it up. It's a well known whistle blower case.
In any event, this merger would/will go through. They just have to give the interested parties the power/money they want before it is approved. I'm sure AT&T will fully cooperate and pay tribute where it is needed to the government mob.