More than 100 U.S. mayors have evince living for AT&T ’s proposed acquirement of mobile rival T - Mobile USA , AT&T said Wednesday .
The city manager of Miami , St. Louis , and Sacramento , Calif. , are among those from 24 states call for the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice to O.K. the deal . AT&T announce in March that it plan to buy T - Mobile USA for $ 39 billion .
AT&T official have order the acquisition would help them expand their 4 gram internet to more corners of the U.S. T - Mobile ’s spectrum will help AT&T better peregrine service to existing client , and help the company meet a grow demand for wandering data services , the company has say .
The merger will blow up the availability , hurrying and reliability of mobile broadband and will “ foster innovation from twist Creator , apps developers , customers and cognitive content Lord that did not exist a few years ago , ” Mayor Francis Slay of St. Louis pronounce in a assertion .
Also hold up the deal are 26 governors and 11 state attorneys general , AT&T noted . About 80 member of the U.S. House of Representatives have signed on to letters of support , and regulatory charge in three state have voted to approve the deal .
antagonist of the deal have say the acquisition would rid of one of four roving carrier with a countrywide ambit , with T - Mobile often the low - cost competitor to big carriers .
Opponents have noted that most T - Mobile spectrum convergence with existing AT&T coverage , leaving motion on how the acquisition will permit AT&T to expand its 4 G reportage . opponent have suggested that AT&T could achieve many of the same end by spending the $ 39 billion to meliorate and make out its existing web .
On Wednesday , Consumer Watchdog releasedan opposition letter the mathematical group wroteto the FCC , DOJ and California officials . AT&T made similar promises of low prices and better service of process in its 2004 merger with Cingular , but flush it to render , the group suppose in the letter .
AT&T “ betrayed its promise ” after the Cingular merger , the varsity letter say . The company “ abandoned the old AT&T web , deliberately degrade the web so that AT&T customer would be forced to migrate to Cingular ’s own web , pay an upgrade fee of $ 18 , buy new phones and correspond to fresh and more expensive charge per unit plan . These anti - consumer motion were enforced by an anti - free-enterprise ‘ early ending fee ’ of anywhere between $ 175 and $ 400 , which prevented customers of AT&T from displace to another carrier . ”
An AT&T spokeswoman gainsay the entropy in the Consumer Watchdog alphabetic character . Mobile terms have “ declined crisply ” in late year , said spokeswoman Margaret Boles .
“ This letter is penetrate with distortions and factual inaccuracies , ” Boles added . “ T - Mobile consumers will be able to keep their charge per unit plans for as long as they need to , even when upgrading to a comparable twist , once the merger is completed . Further , T - Mobile consumers will not be required to upgrade their telephone set . “
