An Idea Whose Time Has (NOT) Come

AT&T wants to buy T-Mobile.  You can read about it HERE. 

My gut reaction is NOT against mergers and acquisitions, even by the largest of firms.  This, however, is a very bad idea, and I say this is a long-time AT&T Wireless customer. 

Why?

The wireless industry seems to be in dire need of more competition, not less, if for no other reason than encouraging better customer service.  Currently AT&T routinely leads polls in terms of bad service (sample rant HERE), and there is no indication that getting bigger will make AT&T more customer friendly.  In fact I'd argue that it will probably make it worse, as more subscribers will simply strain the service delivery system of AT&T.

This move seems to just be about adding customers to the book and expanding AT&T's network.  Funny, but doesn't AT&T already provide the best coverage of any provider already (if you believe their spin)?

Will the merger spur innovative products?  No, as it's not the wireless providers that seem to be driving technology innovation in this space.  You can thank hardware & software providers (Google, Apple, etc.) for what we have seen in this area, NOT AT&T, Verizon and the like.

Will the merger result in lower prices?  Well for example it costs virtually NOTHING for a provider to send your SMS message over their networks, but yet the wireless providers make enormous sums of money off of the service (reference HERE). Having fewer competitors will simply spur the wireless provides to keep the status quo when it comes to things like text messaging.

What is in this merger for the customers of AT&T and T-Mobile?  Probably nothing, as neither company is in danger of going bankrupt.  Unless there is something in this for US, then I say reducing the number of major wireless provides by 25% is a bad idea.