The 39 billion-dollar acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T has met with increasing opposition from rival mobile carriers, consumers and minority organizations.
The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) and the National Institute for Latino Policy (NILP) on Tuesday filed a petition to deny AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
A horizontal acquisition of this nature, between AT&T, the second largest mobile phone provider and T-Mobile, the fourth largest in the country, would create a highly consolidated mobile telephone market, said the petition.
Consumers, especially itinerant consumers (as many Latino workers are), that rely on national providers to ensure that they can connect wherever they are, would be forced to select from one of only three mobile phone providers, said the petition.
"Less competition in the mobile phone marketplace would lead to higher prices, fewer choices and poorer customer service at a time when consumers can least afford it," stated Jessica J. Gonzalez, NHMC's vice president of policy & legal affairs.
"This would disproportionately harm Latino consumers because Latinos, more than any other demographic group, rely on mobile phones for communication, democratic participation, civic engagement and economic empowerment," Gonzalez said.
Of the four major national carriers, Latinos pay the highest rates on AT&T, with monthly bills averaging 120 dollars, and the lowest on T-Mobile, averaging 102 dollars. Thus, it should be no surprise that approximately 21-25 percent of T-Mobile's 34 million customers are Latinos, compared to 12 percent of AT&T's customers, according to NHMC.
If this acquisition were approved, T-Mobile customers would have fewer choices for pricing plans and devices, and would be subject to AT&T's documented history of poor customer service, NHMC said.
"This merger is a threat to competition and the result will likely be higher prices, especially a problem for Latinos who are so dependent on wireless services and are one of the most economically vulnerable groups in this society. We believe that AT&T has been a good coporate citizen in its relations to the Latino community, but there are issues here that go beyond the importance of diversity alone," said Angelo Falcon, NILP's President.
A rising number of states in the U.S. have also expressed concerns over the proposed deal. In California, the state utility commission voted 5-0 in favor of investigating possible implications of the purchase.
Sprint Nextel, joined by an army of thousands of consumers, have filed requests for FCC to block AT&T's proposed acquisition.
The acquisition would create a "Twin Bell duopoly," giving AT&T and Verizon Communications a combined 82 percent of the mobile market in the country, Sprint said in the filing. Approval of the acquisition would take the U.S. mobile market back to the 1980s, when only two carriers had mobile licenses in each area.
The FCC's spectrum auctions in the 1990s "gave rise to Sprint, T- Mobile, and other wireless carriers, and ushered in an era of competition and growth that has greatly benefitted consumers," said the filing.
"Wireless competition has sparked a technological revolution in broadband data services, applications and devices. The proposed transaction would turn back the clock on competition and innovation and bring this era of unprecedented wireless expansion and technological innovation to an abrupt, but avoidable, halt," the filing said.
It is reported that FCC has received more than 10,000 comments about the proposed merger, with many mobile customers submitting one-page form letters from media reform group Free Press in opposition to the deal.
04:32:00
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