It will be interesting to see if the United States Department of Justice and the FCC approve AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile. As RPadholic smartguy mentioned, the government allowed the merger of NBC and Comcast, so huge deals aren’t out of the question. This situation is a bit different in that the mobile communications market is smaller and less competitive than television.
Would the government really allow for one GSM monopoly (AT&T) and one CDMA monopoly (Verizon) to dominate the market? Would it really stifle mobile innovation by allowing a less competitive landscape that gives consumers less choice and will lead to higher prices? It seems crazy, but the government has traditionally shown a poor understanding of technology, so perhaps it won’t see the issues here.
Kindly take today’s poll and share your thoughts on whether this massive deal gets approved.
[poll id=”107″]
I voted for yes, reason being that there's got to be some iphone users on the FCC board that want to get better reception too.
Yes because this country is whored out to lobbyists and corps.
Couldn't say it better myself.
Ditto
This.
It's funny you mentioned that because I was at our state capitol last week with a rep from our lobbying firm to try to push through a delay in an onerous piece of environmental regulation for our industry. We are pretty sure it will pass.
My company alone has donated tens of thousands of dollars to many local, state, and national politicians. Unfortunately, it is part of the "game". See, the thing is, if we sit on our asses and do nothing, people from other groups or industries will eventually come up with all sorts of restrictions, regulations, compliances, and unintended consequences as a result of getting the things they want passed. So, in order to defend ourselves, we HAVE to play them at their game and do the same thing they do from our end. No doubt that the things we do and lobby for have unintended consequences on some other business or industry.
And so the never-ending vicious cycle of political shit continues, but I'll be damned if I am going to roll over and allow some bureaucrat (who has never owned a business in his life) to tell me how much mark-up I am allowed to make on my own product!
-M
Saw an interesting stat that said 2 companies would control 75% of the market if this acquisition goes through.
You know, I could write an entire book on regulation and crony capitalism. They go hand-in-hand.
The surprising truth is that the largest of companies (like AT&T) love all of these regulations imposed by the FCC and other governing bodies since it makes it very difficult for a small or upstart company to gain an entry into the market. Only the very large companies will have enough resources to comply with the multitude of rules, regulations, and laws. In public, they act like they despise it, but the reality is that they love it since it leads to 75% control of the market.
What they pay in regulatory costs pale in comparison to market dominance. Also, regulatory costs are passed down to the end consumer.
-M
Smartguy nailed it.