News

CWA's Goldman: AT&T Is The Best Company To Buy T-Mobile Network

30 Jun, 2011

At a policy forum at the Economic Policy Institute on June 29, CWA's Debbie Goldman advocated for the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile.

The panel also included Parul Desai of Consumers Union and Nathan Newman of Economic and Technology Strategies, Inc. Goldman laid out her case for the merger:

"The choice is not between an independent T-Mobile, but rather between a merger with Sprint or AT&T. AT&T is the far better choice. AT&T and T-Mobile use the same technology, AT&T has the financial resources for network expansion, and, unlike Sprint, is a union company that respects workers' rights. Sprint outsources most of its wireless work, and has a long history of trampling on workers' rights."

Goldman added that T-Mobile has been trying for the past three years to reverse its declining revenue, profits and loss of customers, but has not been successful. In January of this year, Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile's German owners) decided to stop providing funding to T-Mobile for expansion. T-Mobile does not have the money or spectrum to upgrade its network to real 4G. As a result, it was clear that T-Mobile was up for sale. Preserving the current market structure was not an option.

Newman also supports the merger, providing the FCC with a mechanism to impose conditions that would achieve the public benefit of near-universal high-speed wireless broadband. Moreover, Newman added, the wireless ecosystem is highly competitive, with application providers such as Skype, Google Voice, and Beluga providing consumers alternatives for voice and texting, constraining carriers' ability to raise prices or inhibit innovation.

Newman supports FCC merger conditions that would expand broadband access and adoption and increase consumer protection, specifically regarding access to handsets and wireless applications. Goldman and CWA also advocate for broadband build-out merger conditions — suggesting that specific benchmarks and penalties be included in the merger agreement.

Desai raised concerns about consumer choice and competitive pricing should the merger go through, emphasizing that there were no conditions sufficient to protect consumers and competition.