AT&T/T-Mobile Merger is Path to High Speed Broadband for All

This article was originally published by USA TODAY on Thursday, May 19.

The AT&T/T-Mobile merger brings a unique opportunity to ensure high speed broadband buildout, if regulators condition approval to ensure buildout to 97% of Americans and set a timetable for achieving true high speeds. There is no other path for America to catch up with the rest of the world and bridge our digital divide, especially for rural areas.

High speed Internet is critical to economic competitiveness and our quality of life. Telemedicine and smart grids have enormous potential, but they will remain beyond the grasp of tens of millions of Americans unless we accelerate the buildout of true high speed broadband.

The U.S. has fallen to 25th in the world, behind countries like Romania, in terms of our speed capacity. The fact that 24 million American lack any access to high speed broadband is holding us back. In today's global economy, we can't afford to stand still.

This merger promises to bridge the digital divide and will, if regulators insist on guarantees of date certain buildout and mapping that is monitored.

Without this merger, broadband buildout on this scale won't go forward.

T-Mobile's parent company, Deutsche Telekom, has made it clear that it will not invest the billions needed to build next generation high speed networks in the U.S. That means no path to LTE 4G high speed wireless broadband for T-Mobile customers.

AT&T has the financial resources to develop T-Mobile's assets and to offer T-Mobile customers the latest in technology, and AT&T and T-Mobile utilize compatible technologies.

Sprint, the other potential buyer, doesn't have the financial resources for buildout. Its bonds are rated as junk and it's struggling to integrate the four different wireless technologies it uses, none of which are compatible with T-Mobile.

And Sprint's outsourcing and offshoring of network management jobs and of the majority of its customer contact work isn't good news for T-Mobile workers.

The choice for consumers, workers and economic growth is clear.  There is no other plan to achieve the dream of high speed internet for all.

Opposing view: AT&T/T-Mobile bridges digital divide (USA TODAY)