• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Should AT&T and T-Mobile be allowed to merge?

Should AT&T & T-Mobile be allowed to merge?


  • Total voters
    32

Utility Man

Sidewalk Inspector
DP Veteran
Joined
Feb 16, 2011
Messages
9,167
Reaction score
12,013
Location
US
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Undisclosed
Pretty simple question. Should AT&T and T-Mobile be allowed to merge?

Yes, they should be allowed.

or

No, they should not be allowed.




I myself believe they should not be allowed to merge for several reasons, if the merger takes place there would be one less choice in the marketplace, large numbers of employees/departments/retailer stores will be eliminated due to redundancy and one of these companies already fits in the too big to fail category.

Sorry if there is already a thread on this, I could not seem to find one.

Edit: I do thank you for your time.
 
Last edited:
Pretty simple question. Should AT&T and T-Mobile be allowed to merge?

Yes, they should be allowed.

or

No, they should not be allowed.




I myself believe they should not be allowed to merge for several reasons, if the merger takes place there would be one less choice in the marketplace, large numbers of employees/departments/retailer stores will be eliminated due to redundancy and one of these companies already fits in the too big to fail category.

Sorry if there is already a thread on this, I could not seem to find one.

Ive heard a lot of buzz and rumors that it probably won't happen because even T-Mobile is kind of iffy on it.
 
I would be okay with T-mobile and Sprint merging due to market share but At&t and Verison are already to large and should be broken up.
 
No... mega corporations stifle competition and innovation. It almost never benefits consumers.
 
Pretty simple question. Should AT&T and T-Mobile be allowed to merge?

Yes, they should be allowed.

or

No, they should not be allowed.




I myself believe they should not be allowed to merge for several reasons, if the merger takes place there would be one less choice in the marketplace, large numbers of employees/departments/retailer stores will be eliminated due to redundancy and one of these companies already fits in the too big to fail category.

Sorry if there is already a thread on this, I could not seem to find one.

Edit: I do thank you for your time.

Companies should be prevented from growing too big. Mostly because there is the possibility of a monopoly and the idiots in office who go "but there too big to fail".
 
Absolutely not. The American telecom industry is one of the least competitive telecom industries in the entire developed world. In fact, our telecommunications industry is more dysfunctional than the telecom industry in many African nations. Four carriers is far too few...we certainly don't need the existing ones to merge. If anything, Verizon and AT&T are already too big and should be broken apart.
 
Does Comcast sort of fit in this conversation as a look at a "This is what happens when cable giant eats the rest of the options" kind of way?
 
Yep, let em merge.
 
AT&T and Verizon are so large because people choose to use them. Verizon has the market cornered in Dallas and we have Sprint, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Boost Mobile, MetroPCS, and a few smaller companies readily available. That's plenty of competition with pretty even pricing (Metro is cheaper but the service area is limited to the metroplex).

That said, I have no opinion on the merger.
 
Yep, let em merge.


Thanks for the honesty, if you don't mind me asking.....Do you think the merger will put people out of work and leave some unemployed ?
 
No those wirless teles are ripping us off as it is...imagine if there was only one or two of them...
 
Thanks for the honesty, if you don't mind me asking.....Do you think the merger will put people out of work and leave some unemployed ?

Sure... eventually after the merger some duplicate jobs will be moved. However, companies usually do this through long mergers, 1-2 years after the merger and by no back filling with outside hires. Inside hires take the priority, groups that are duplicates are urged to move / apply to other organizations within the new company and outside hires are limited. For example, the SBC / AT&T purchase saw a very small amount of jobs lost. Many long standing employees were given buy out packages to retire, others were moved, and after a few years some in fact did lose their jobs but that was all muted as many of those duplicated organizations and groups were used elsewhere in the company.
 
Once again, I appreciate your response.
 
Well unless it violates some law which I dont think it does then YES of course they should.

But Im not up on monopoly laws etc.

that said thats my stance theres no reason to stop them.
 
Does Comcast sort of fit in this conversation as a look at a "This is what happens when cable giant eats the rest of the options" kind of way?

Cable Companies are a bit different, I am no fan of their quasi government protected monopoly however. (as in the same guise as utilities) Small regional wireless companies can pop up as we have seen in the past decade. Attempt to start up a TV service company? Good luck.

As for the merger, let them. Sprint is just pissed because they're merger with Nextel bombed like a mother with one of the main reasons being the two carriers were different wireless technologies. Sprint CMDA, Nextel IDEN.
 
I don't understand why (some) conservatives/libertarians support huge business agglomerations in industries that already aren't very competitive. It's almost as though for some people, a lack of government intervention is an end itself, instead of a means to an end (i.e. a more competitive marketplace). Capitalism should be about competition, not about a total lack of any government intervention whatsoever. Anti-monopoly laws are absolutely necessary because capitalism simply doesn't work very well if you don't have a competitive marketplace. And the US telecom industry is atrociously uncompetitive, thanks to the fact that four carriers essentially dominate the landscape.
 
I think when it comes to a subject like the telecom companies a strict free-market private approach does not make much sense. In order to have national service in this country you are going to need a large company, that is just a fact. There seems to be little reason why the competitive nature of the market would not lend itself to a few or even just one company being the primary provider eventually. Any such company will, as a result, have considerable power in both business and politics. Just look at the kind of positions past and present heads of Verizon have held. I do not think such companies gobbling each other up is a positive thing so long as they are held by a select number of wealthy private shareholders.
 
I believe the decision needs to be made on economic factor.

I this going to reduce consumer costs, and at what price to jobs, as mergers often result in reductions in the workforce.

Do the savings offset the cost of lost jobs, and what effect will all this have on local economies.

This has to be about more than how you feel.
 
Last edited:
No as it means less competition.
 
No as it means less competition.

Would you ever allow a merger?

Btw, for those opposed to the merger I hope you are aware that T-Mobile has no future in America.
 
Last edited:
I believe the decision needs to be made on economic factor.

I this going to reduce consumer costs, and at what price to jobs, as mergers often result in reductions in the workforce.

Do the savings offset the cost of lost jobs, and what effect will all this have on local economies.

This has to be about more than how you feel.

Or to expand on this..

T-Mobile has said plenty of times they don't have the resources to expand on their 4G network to be competitive. AT&T acquiring them would put them in a better position to provide consumers with a cheaper product due to decreased cost to providing their service and the fact they would be able to serve more areas which have been ignored because of the cost.
 
Would you ever allow a merger?

I think it depends on the industry. The telecom industry is already one of the most uncompetitive industries in America.

Btw, for those opposed to the merger I hope you are aware that T-Mobile has no future in America.

That's pretty subjective, and in any case not really relevant to whether they should merge or not.
 
Would you ever allow a merger?

Of course, but when the over national picture goes from 4 to 3 and then soon to two, then you got to ask... The problem is soon there will only be AT&T and Verizon, on two different platforms... and is that a good thing? Sooner or later the prices will be jacked up and new competition will be blocked by the two big ones.

Btw, for those opposed to the merger I hope you are aware that T-Mobile has no future in America.

well that is up for debate. Deutche Telecom is one of the worlds biggest telecommunications companies and could easily sustain T-Mobile if it wanted too.. problem is it sees no future for the American market that is highly uncompetitive. You do know that T-Mobile has far more subscribers than Verizon and AT&T right... granted world wide, but still.

But you have got to ask yourself.. why dont the real big mobil operators in the world go into the US market? Why is there no Vodafone (although they do own 45% of Verizon), no Telefonica, no America Movil and so on? Something must be preventing them from entering the US mobile market, since Vodafone and Telefonica are in pretty much every other major market in the world, along with Orange and Deutche Telecom.
 
Last edited:
Or to expand on this..

T-Mobile has said plenty of times they don't have the resources to expand on their 4G network to be competitive.

Bull****. Problem is that it is very expensive to expand in the US because there is no legislation requiring sharing of infrastructure. It is easier for Deutche Telecom to expand in other markets at a fraction of the price.

AT&T acquiring them would put them in a better position to provide consumers with a cheaper product due to decreased cost to providing their service and the fact they would be able to serve more areas which have been ignored because of the cost.

Cheaper product? You do realize that mobile rates, especially the data rates have gone up in the US right?
 
Back
Top Bottom