Promotes well being, guarantees a shorter life
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AT&T claims T-Mobile buyout won't mean price hikes
US TELECOM GIANT AT&T claims that its buyout of T-Mobile USA will not lead to price hikes.
Since AT&T's announcement that it had reached a £24 billion ($39 billion) deal with Deutsche Telekom to buy its T-Mobile USA operations, the firm has been repeatedly hit by claims that it will be bad for consumers. Now AT&T's CEO, Randall Stephenson has dismissed claims that having a single GSM operator in the US will result in higher prices.
Stephenson, speaking at a plush New York event, cited a US government report that shows prices fell by 50 per cent over the last decade despite five wireless mergers over that time. When asked by Reuters whether AT&T might need to adopt price restrictions to attain regulatory approval, Stephenson said, "I'm not sure of the relevance of it."
Apparently Stephenson believes that free market economics will take care of everything, saying the US market "is the most highly competitive in the world". To visualise this, he said that AT&T customers once paid $1.90 per megabyte of wireless data, which has now dropped to around 16 cents per megabyte.
Highlighting other aspects of the deal, Stephenson said that AT&T will work with Deutsche Telekom to reduce roaming charges. AT&T has also said that it will increase investment in its infrastructure by $8 billion over the next seven years.
AT&T's deal with Deutsche Telekom still has to be approved by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC). There has already been widespread concern that the deal will be bad for consumers, with one FCC official saying there is "no way" the deal will be rubber-stamped.
On Tuesday Sprint, one of the four main US mobile operators, said it will oppose the deal and yesterday New York's Attorney General said he will "closely scrutinise" it. In both cases, the consequences of the deal going through have been likened to the Ma Bell monopoly that was broken up in the 1980s.
It is likely that few consumers will buy Stephenson's claim that prices won't rise following the acquisition of T-Mobile. The real question is whether the DOJ and the FCC will agree with Stephenson's views and approve the merger. µ
Tags: Hardware
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...it's got 'bells.wav' on it.
Sales person sold me $39.00 month plan ....but the first bill was $89.00 with a bunch of extra padded charges added that sales person never mentioned !
And you could tell that alot of those extras were going to be added every month!
It should be illegal for them to advertise plans and not tell you the REAL monthly cost till your bill arrives.
They do this to look cheap .
Pass laws no hidden charges to surprise you later !
There will be no Price Hike, but there will be service cut; unless additional fee is assessed.
I didnt like at&t when I used them before due to very poor customer service so I switched to tmobile...now I moght possibly be forced to
deal with at&t again!!! NOT FAIR!!!!!!
I didnt like at&t when I used them before due to very poor customer service so I switched to tmobile...now I moght possibly be forced to
deal with at&t again!!! NOT FAIR!!!!!!
AT&T has no integrity & isn't bound by anything . Who hasn't been over billed by AT&T . They even tried having legislation passed they would make them non liable for any over billing .If you have T-Mobile your rates will definitely go up when your contract runs out . If they choose to raise rates they can . They will have the GSM market to themselves . T-Mobile holds AT&T in check and Sprint holds Verizon in check . Sprint & Verizon being on the CDMA band . T-Mobile is AT&T's checks & balances . Of course they want to eliminate them .
"AT&T" is a rebadge of Cingular, the "raising the bill" (er, "raising the bar") company that bought the AT&T name. When Cingular bought AT&T, they told the regulatory agency that "pricing will not change."
Well, technically they didn't raise some plan prices, they just DROPPED those plans. The new plans were an increase. My basic service plan was dropped and replaced with a new plan that cost THREE TIMES my AT&T plan price. When my plan expired I changed to T-Mobile.
Now what do I do? I don't like Verizon's business practices and don't want to give them my money and the Sprint coverage doesn't fit my needs.
Sigh.
The prices may not raise but the service will certainly decline. The beauty of competition is what are you getting for your money?
The easiest way to compete is to simply add services and features for the same money. More bang for your buck.
Well by removing competition then there is no incentive to improve performance.
T-Mobile offers unlimited Texting for a small monthly price.
AT&T is quickly heding back into being broken up again.
Here's the DOJ anti-trust email.
Antitrust.Complaints@usdoj.gov
Voice your opinion!
That's the revolutionary government that suppossedly belongs to US.
While prices might not go up(they will) they won't ever go down,which is why we need competition. If it passes I will assume it was a bride.
I would not ever use at%t anyway. I remember a time when they where #1 in customer service. Now they #1 in how not to treat a customer.