FCC Requested to Transfer T-Mobile's License to AT&T

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On April 24, 2011

Remember a month ago when iPhoners.org reported that AT&T Acquires T-Mobile USA?

AT&T Acquires T-Mobile

AT&T announced that AT&T acquired T-Mobile for $39 billion and it could take a year for the deal to complete. It faces reviews by the FCC and the Department of Justice.
The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) on Thursday received a request to transfer T-Mobile’s licenses to AT&T. This transfer request is the first steps the companies are making in the potentially lengthy approval process of AT&T‚Äôs proposed acquisition of the smaller operator. The FCC will consider whether combining the wireless licenses of AT&T and T-Mobile will comply with the regulations of agency regulations, also how combining the licenses will affect competition.

For existing AT&T iPhone users, the acquisition of T-Mobile will probably be a positive development—at least technologically. For one thing, AT&T stands to gain a plethora of existing cell towers in the U.S. This will allow the carrier to expand their network coverage in ways that wouldn’t have otherwise been feasible, since building new towers is often a costly and time-consuming proposition, especially in dense population areas where iPhone users have traditionally experienced heavy network congestion.

While they go on to assert that the agreement will benefit consumers by reducing the number of dropped calls, boosting data speeds and expanding the deployment of next-generation technologies, Sprint released another statement against the plan in response to the filing with the FCC.

It is an indisputable fact that this takeover would create an entrenched duopoly with control of approximately 80 percent of wireless industry revenues

said Vonya McCann, senior vice president of government affairs at Sprint.

This kind of leverage could strangle competition and give AT&T the power to increase prices, threaten innovation critical to this industry and eliminate American jobs.

Sprint believes that the FCC should reject the deal outright. “This proposed takeover cannot be fixed with conditions or divestitures,” McCann said.