Sunday, March 20, 2011

AT&T To Acquire T-Mobile USA In $39 Billion Deal

The acquisition spree that started in 2005 continues. T-Mobile was the only one significant independent GSM carrier left in the US market and, logically, AT&T just acquired it. But the Feds need to approve it and this might not be as easy as it looks. The Feds will say that the merger will against the Communications Act and the concentration of market share in fewer players will hurt competition and innovation. In the US, AT&T and Verizon are in battle to become the dominant leader in controlling the Service Provider end of the network triangle. Can they succeed (and profit) without controlling another end?