8 Tech Companies Officially Come Out In Support of ProposedAT&T/T-Mobile Merger

[Kevin Jackson]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.tmonews.com/2011/06/microsoft-facebook-among-eight-technology-companies-supporting-attt-mobile-merger/' target='_blank'>http://www.tmonews.com/2011/06/micr...-mobile-merger/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Microsoft joined with Facebook and 6 other technology companies in a filing to the FCC last night in a statement of support for the AT&amp;T/T-Mobile merger. The deals supporters include Yahoo, Oracle, Research in Motion and VC firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield &amp; Byers and Sequoia Partners. Their argument is pretty much summed up by saying that the proposed deal is the best way for AT&amp;T to expand their network capacity in order to serve a larger portion of America with high-speed wireless services."</em></p><p>Well, ain't this a kick in the head. Facebook, Microsoft, and others are now officially supporting the AT&amp;T and T-Mobile merger. The first question that runs through my mind when I see news like this is "what is their motive." In other words, how is this proposed merger going to affect their bottom lines.</p><p>I, for one, am not in favor of this merger at all. I have been an AT&amp;T customer and I am currently a T-Mobile customer and the quality of their respective customer service is worlds apart. T-Mobile consistently takes care of any issues that I have -- which are few and far between -- while the numerous issues I had with AT&amp;T were rarely handled satisfactorily. That may have changed in the intervening years since I left them, but the bad taste is still there. If this merger goes through you can bet that I, for one, will be moving over to Sprint.</p><p>What do you think of the merger? How about the companies coming out in support of it? What do they stand to gain? Let us know in the forum.</p>

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Less competition is bad for consumers. Less competition in a a market with high barriers of entry is many times worse. I hope the regulators have some sense to not let this through...

[Craig Horlacher]

The idea of less competition scares me. I hope the deal doesn't go through.

[Kevin Jackson]

I agree; they're on the verge of undoing much of what they did in breaking up Bell (which, unless I am mistaken, is where AT&T came from in the first place) back in the '80s. Bigger <> better when it comes to companies and merging them. Competition benefits the consumer. Plus, with the loss of T-Mo as a separate entity, you lose the best value (in my opinion) of the big 4 US mobile operators.

[Fritzly]

The mobile phone market in the US is already behind other industrialized Countries; killing competition, especially considering that the "survivor" will be AT&T would push the US customers in the hand of the worst provider.

I am afraid that things will get worse before getting better.........