AT&T ’s nominate attainment of rival roving flattop T - Mobile USA would give customers fewer choices and drive up prices , some U.S. lawgiver say Thursday .
Several members of the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee ’s competition subcommittee oppugn during a hearing whether the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Federal Communications Commission should grant the $ 39 billion stack to happen . “ I see absolutely no redeem reason for this merger to go through , ” said Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan , the senior Democrat on the full committee .
The merger could cost many business at the two companies and could run to high damage for mobile programme , Conyers read . “ ordinarily , at antimonopoly hearings , we get the promises that there wo n’t be losses of jobs and they wo n’t raise the rates , ” he said . “ The thing I wish about these witnesses is , they do n’t even call that . I thank you for your evasiveness on this topic . ”
Conyers was talking to Randall Stephenson , chairman and CEO of AT&T , and Rene Obermann , CEO of Deutsche Telekom , T - Mobile ’s parent company . Stephenson and Obermann both told the subcommittee the acquisition would allow AT&T to roll out mobile broadband help faster across the country .
Themerger would help AT&T handle with uprise spectrum crunch , Stephenson said . The acquirement of T - Mobile ’s cubicle tugboat would rival eight years of tower - construction activities in San Francisco and Los Angeles , he say .
“ This transaction is about consumer , ” Stephenson enounce . “ It ’s about , specifically , keeping up with consumer demand . It ’s about giving consumers what they expect — that ’s fewer devolve calls , faster speeds and access to high - focal ratio , quaternary - generation LTE [ Long - Term Evolution ] service . ”
Without the amalgamation , T - Mobile does n’t have a clear track to new spectrum needed to offer next - generation LTE service , Obermann told lawmakers . The cut-rate sale to AT&T is the “ best termination ” both for Deutsche Telekom and for U.S. customer , he say .
But Representative Bob Goodlatte , a Virginia Republican and subcommittee chairman , questioned why Obermann told investor in January that T - Mobile has the just 4 G internet in the U.S. and well spectrum resources than several competitors .
“ Is T - Mobile today a feasible competitor in the U.S. mart , or is it not ? ” Goodlatte say .
Over the long terminal figure , T - Mobile does not have the spectrum it needs , Obermann aver . T - Mobile is “ trying to compete by aggressively marketing ” its current services , he said .
Other witnesses voiced opposition to the merger . The spate could anguish innovation in the mobile industry , with large carriers AT&T and Verizon Wireless increasingly serving as gatekeepers for Modern armed service , said Andrew Gavil , an antimonopoly professor at the Howard University School of Law . “ Once this amalgamation is complete , there will be no method acting for either the agencies or Congress to resurrect competition once it ’s gone , ” he say .
Other lawmakers seemed more receptive to the business deal . Representative Ben Quayle , an Arizona Republican , intimate new mobile competitors could turn out to compete with AT&T and Verizon if the two large carrier promote prices .
But Gavil question how that could happen . It would be unmanageable for a novel peregrine carrier to bribe enough spectrum to compete with AT&T and Verizon , he said .
The limited review of the deal by the FCC and DOJ could take several month . Congress has no direct control over the office ’ decisions .
This clause was castigate on May 29 to fixate a T - Mobile statement about its spectrum needs .
