AT&T's $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile - was this a smart business move?

It is hard to second guess ATT on this point from a business point of view. However it is hard for me to see how this could pass antitrust review, and -ATT is taking a serious gamble that it can pass. The main advantage that I see is that ATT and T-Mobile use the same GSM technology so that there is network compatibility. This would not be true of other potential merger partners for this carrier.

As in the Internet provider business, the market is rapidly consolidating due to the large benefits of scale. Having only three credible national carriers in a market this large strikes me as anticompetitive. I would urge the government to reject this proposed merger and see if the competitors can cut costs by potentially sharing certain base stations and the like to save cost.

The new AT&T is certainly proving it is one of the most innovative monopolies of all time. Buy out the competitor, lay off its work force, repurpose its equipment, reduce the quality of service and raise prices. When does monoply become a cabal? I would guess when Verizon buys out VodaPhone and Sprint?

AT&T doesn’t have the greatest history with regulators and this clearly has focused them on the company like a laser. If this doesn’t go through it could kill T-Mobile America which would remove a competitor regardless and if it does go through Sprint goes on death watch. If it weren’t for the regulators I’d say this was a great deal for AT&T, but factoring them in, makes the result far less certain and it could start a process that eventually may make AT&T less competitive. Once this is done, AT&T should get enough additional bandwidth to significantly improve their customer satisfaction scores but the year to get there may be painful for a lot of folks. Big winners initially are likely Apple and Verizon.

Since there is nothing we as poor peons can do, its immaterial.. There are only a few cell/telephone companies (regardless of the "monopoly" breakup years ago, telephones are still a monopoly).

I've used everyone except sprint, and truthfully I've had good and bad experiences. Will or does it make a difference - not in the long run or short run. Those who now have ATT and T-Mobile in the US have more cell towers to utilize, so maybe our signals will get better... maybe not (if everything is co-located).

On the other hand, I don't think it will past anti-trust, but then again, I can't vote :)

I don't agree that further monopoly power in this important market is immaterial. In fact, the large investments these firms will make will raise prices and be a barrier to the adoption of new technologies in wireless. These firms will fight like tigers to avoid competition and increase their return on investment from the billions they are spending to get this monopoly power.

While I am opposed to this merger, I am not opposed to sharing of some of the very high capital costs. In fact, most of the small wireless firms may not have their own networks, rather renting them from a larger firm. There can be innovation in marketing and cost control as well as in infrastrure. I would urge the government to encourage efficient use of resources while encouraging competition.

This is a smart move for AT&T. They want the T-Mobile AWS 1700MHz spectrum to supplement its 700MHz LTE spectrum. AT&T needs this spectrum to get LTE fully implemented and keep up with Verizon. T-Mobile uses AWS for its 3G/4G service. However, that will be a problem for T-Mobile customers since they will no longer have 3G/4G HSPA+ that uses the 1700MHz frequency. So customers with existing handsets will be limited to 2G. T-Mobile customers will need to replace their hardware to be compatible with LTE. While I am sure AT&T will be happy to upgrade customers this is NOT good customer service. It will be a year away (assuming the transaction is approved by the FCC), so they can plan accordingly. I am disappointed from a customer perspective.