AT&T merger approval looking pretty darned likely
posted at 1:36 pm on March 29, 2011 by Ed Morrissey
Will Democrats who usually line up to protest large-scale corporate mergers demand intervention to stop AT&T’s purchase of T-Mobile? After all, this hits on two hot-button topics for the Left, Net Neutrality and corporate power, which normally would act like something akin to a perfect progressive storm. As The Hill explains, however, don’t expect too much more than token resistance from Democrats, for one big reason:
Analysts predict that Republicans are less likely than Democrats to try to block AT&T’s merger with T-Mobile. But in certain districts, the merger could carry political costs for GOP candidates.
That’s because thousands of T-Mobile USA’s employees — who are not unionized — will become part of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) if AT&T is permitted to buy up the company. CWA almost uniformly endorses Democrats.
“CWA is very influential in certain states, and this might increase their political muscle in certain places where they are powerful, like New Jersey,” said Daniel DiSalvo, a political science professor at the City College of New York.
CWA may have the most to gain wherever T-Mobile employees are highly concentrated, according to a Republican strategist who declined to be named.
That’s the bad news for the GOP. The good news is that the highest concentration for T-Mobile employees is in Bellevue, Washington. The good news is that this won’t be much of a loss. Bellevue votes heavily Democratic anyway, and its proximity to Seattle means that the trend would likely have continued regardless.
The effect will more likely be felt nationwide, and to a lesser extent than what The Hill predicts. T-Mobile USA has 42,000 employees according to Wikipedia, which hardly will provide a private-sector windfall to CWA. Many of those will probably be lost as AT&T consolidates offices and stores to save money after the merger, so CWA can’t even count on that many new contributors, and those who do get folded into union shops might end up being voices for decertification later.
Still, some Democrats may look at those numbers, along with making T-Mobile an American-run network, as enough of a reason to back off of anti-trust charges for this merger. If it sails through more quietly than expected, this could be one reason for the relative silence.
Blowback
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Why does this even matter? There are a lot of cellphone service suppliers out there to select from.
WoosterOh on March 29, 2011 at 1:39 PM
Fascism is where you find it.
percysunshine on March 29, 2011 at 1:40 PM
T-mobile milks servicemen with hidden charges and other money grubbing BS.
Tim Burton on March 29, 2011 at 1:44 PM
I’ve been reading the stuff some of y’all have written about AT&T with some humor. My wife works hard for AT&T and just this week was able to quit the union (she had wanted to for years, but not enough to jump through the hoops necessary to do so). Their actions over the last few weeks pushed her, and some co-workers, past the limit and I sent the registered letter informing the union and payroll department that her membership in CWA was over.
Yesterday was a happy day.
cozmo on March 29, 2011 at 1:51 PM
I don’t know about any other states, but here in Texas, working for ATT in non-management or specialty engineering positions, yes, people are part of CWA, but the kicker is, you don’t have to pay any dues if you don’t want to. I know this to be true because I worked for ATT installing UVerse (thank GOD I left that job) and I never paid any union dues.
44Magnum on March 29, 2011 at 1:53 PM
So now that AT&T is moving back towards being a monopoly, when does Obama buy it?
Hening on March 29, 2011 at 1:54 PM
They should just merge with GE and it would be a lock
flyoverland on March 29, 2011 at 1:57 PM
More like sell it to the Chi-Coms.
44Magnum on March 29, 2011 at 1:57 PM
AT&T’s corporate culture is about as ‘progressive’ and PC as it gets. Working at AT&T is like working at China Telecom. Conservatives need not apply.
And we all know that if it weren’t for self-service, AT&T would have no customer service at all.
Ughhh!
petefrt on March 29, 2011 at 1:58 PM
I find your lack of faith…
… disturbing.
/
Seven Percent Solution on March 29, 2011 at 2:02 PM
The original breakup of AT&T, when Ma Bell was broken up into hundreds of smaller companies, was the result of an anti-trust suit filed by the DoJ in 1974, back in the Carter years when everything big was evil….’cept government.
So, 40 years later, big is good?
Guess getting on the “progressive” good side is where there’s lots of money to be made these days.
No wonder the Dems are locking reporters in closets…can’t let all those Dems be seen schmoozing with those “evil corporate fat cats” now can we?
coldwarrior on March 29, 2011 at 2:06 PM
That isn’t really true… the “Eastside” is suburban and more likely to vote Republican. Indeed, their current Congressional Rep is a Republican and the Cook PVI is only +3 Dem.
This could actually be harmful in terms of WA 8.
DaveS on March 29, 2011 at 2:07 PM
Here: WA 8 Congressional District
DaveS on March 29, 2011 at 2:08 PM
petefrt, no kidding. Their webmail is ‘yahoo’ only you cannot login to yahoo and at&t at the same time…
at&t support and website absolutely is the worst.
Upside: maybe Lily Tomlin will reprise her role as the snooty AT&T operator, only this time with the T-mobile girl…
orbitalair on March 29, 2011 at 2:09 PM
Having lived there, at least near Factoria, I found that conservatives were leaving in droves in the late 80′s & early 90s (when I lived there).
IDK what it’s like now, but my experience living in that area, as well as Monroe, Fall City, Carnation, Sultan, etc. was that the closer you got to the city (Seattle proper), the more nutjob liberals you would run into.
And i was never disappointed.
It is one huge reason why I left.
Miserable nasty place. Bcs of the people that basically moved there originally from CA etc.
Badger40 on March 29, 2011 at 2:15 PM
It’s the union thing.
I had a friend that was a buildiong mamager and got moved from Texas (a right to work state) to Chicago (union run).
She was a extremely liberal, but never was exposed to union methods and ways.
About 2 weeks after she started in Chicago, her entire building lost communications (ironically @ ATT Tower). After 24 hours, the problem persisted, and she told me she learned why the word f*****g was normally put before the word “union”.
gonnjos on March 29, 2011 at 2:17 PM
ATT: Will be too big to fail.
I find their upcoming customer service (Alltel here, soon to be AT&T) lacking.
And their replacement phones, which I just got, SUCK.
So of course, I will have to BUY a phone to REPLACE the phone I am losing. And this is just to get an EQUAL phone.
THEIR equal & MY equal do not equate.
Just reading through their agreement literature I’ve been sent, I can see already things are not as good.
And I thought mergers were supposed to make things all better?
Doesn’t look like that is going to happen.
More companies, more competition, better stuff all the way ’round.
That’s why monoplies end up being really bad.
Badger40 on March 29, 2011 at 2:17 PM
WoosterOh – From my point of view, it can create a near monopoly in the GSM market. Not everyone can just swtich to a CDMA provider (which Vz just about owns). A solitary provider will control around 80% of that GSM market making everyone else wannabes. ATT would also control the majority of the towers (for GSM) giving them leverage against the niche/smaller GSM providers. And these smaller GSM providers do not have the coverage that T-Mobile provides.
Post merger, this would create a duopoly where ATT and Vz control almost the entire market. Sprint would just be bidding time until it too is swallowed up.
raz0r on March 29, 2011 at 2:18 PM
I have to laugh, because my father was in AT&T management back then. The judge ruled that the landlines, which were regulated monopolies, subsidized the free market long distance. Obviously, the reverse was true. Now, landlines are becoming obsolete as the subscriber base disappears to wireless.
Vashta.Nerada on March 29, 2011 at 2:18 PM
I thank God I’m a teacher in a right to work state.
The union does not dictate to me what I can, & cannot do.
I’m a member & it is not oppressive being one.
I can still make professional choices without union intervention.
Badger40 on March 29, 2011 at 2:19 PM
So I wonder. Will this mean a long distance call for an hour is going to cost $100 again?
Badger40 on March 29, 2011 at 2:21 PM
No, long distance will be almost free. Calling your neighbor down the road, however, will cost a fortune.
Vashta.Nerada on March 29, 2011 at 2:24 PM
Companies like AT&T and Verizon give capitalism a black eye.
petefrt on March 29, 2011 at 2:24 PM
Here’s another company that little Bammie is trying to screw over: The FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act & What Has Union Bosses in a Panic
From the article, some Republicans have been corrupted by filthy union lucre: …Republican Steve LaTourette* (R-OH), who has received over $336,000 in union contributions over the course of his congressional career, Tim Johnson (R-IL), Candice Miller (R-MI), and Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) are the three other Republicans that have, so far, sided with the union bosses.
slickwillie2001 on March 29, 2011 at 2:26 PM
That is the truth. I wouldn’t have anything other than a GSM phone.
Vashta.Nerada on March 29, 2011 at 2:29 PM
I could see this happening.
Oh joy for the future!
(not to mention that AT&T does not have the My Circle plan).
Badger40 on March 29, 2011 at 2:38 PM
We’re caught in the perfect storm of tech hell.
We have 4 Motorola Cliq XT smart phones that were supposed to be upgraded from Android 1.5 to 2.1. After a year plus of testing, they finally gave up, leaving us and other owners with phones that most new apps don’t work on.
Now AT&T wants to buy T-Mobile, a deal that will probably go through about the time our contract is up next year. That’s important because AT&T doesn’t offer a service like T-Mobile’s @Home which provides our home phone via a wireless router. If we do some deal to get better phones now, we’re stuck with a contract right when we may want to change. We also have a sweet deal on data we don’t want to lose – unlimited for $20/month per phone.
In looking at our options, we have Comcast, through which we already have our cable modem and Internet service. They do offer a similar home phone setup, but not cell phones.
We also have Qwest, which offers all of the above, plus packages with DirectTV, through whom we have satellite TV. However, the Qwest buyout will be final on Friday, leaving their services up in the air.
The best we can do is hang on for another year and see how things shake out. In the meantime, we have to watch the new Amazon cloud service, App Store, Kindle for Android, and many more useful apps pass us by because we don’t even have Android 1.6.
Common Sense on March 29, 2011 at 2:44 PM
I hear a lot of whining about AT&T’s network. I am sure there are or have been issues in SF and NYC. But I’ve been with Cingular/ AT&T for more than 10 years in both the SF Bay Area and Seattle area and never had any major problems. Lots of good service. They’ve even waived extra charges and given me freebies as a long standing customer. I’ve got four people on the plan and unlimited mobile to mobile calling to any mobile, any network. It’s all very good. The only issue I’ve ever had, is in very rural areas, there tends to be low or no coverage, where there still is Verizon coverage.
T-Mobile should improve this even more. Great. I wouldn’t use Verizon because it’s not GSM/ world compatible, and you can’t use data while talking, which I have to do all the time for my work.
JeffB. on March 29, 2011 at 2:47 PM
GE and ATT near monopolies — it’s like I am living in the 60′s again. It’s a shame that we don’t have a First Family with a President who was clearly proud to be American and a First Lady who was gracious and stylish like we had then, too.
Mutnodjmet on March 29, 2011 at 2:50 PM
Badger40,
Good move, it’s even worse here now. I’m only here because of family. The people here are miserable leftists. Can’t wait to leave.
JeffB. on March 29, 2011 at 2:51 PM
I haven’t heard a single prediction yet of a specific pro-consumer outcome of this proposed merger. The merged companies will only become less responsive, and the technological diversity of the marketplace will be diminished. Bad move all around.
DrSteve on March 29, 2011 at 2:54 PM
A lot of really nice ones to choose from… /
ucantbserious on March 29, 2011 at 2:59 PM
If you’re very brave you can find a custom ROM to flash your phone up to at least 2.1. You’ll lose Blur because it’s a vanilla Android build, but it sounds like you might not miss it. Note you will also lose all data on your phone.
Theoretically this should be possible for all Android devices (it’s open-source, after all), but you’re at the mercy of the handset developers to create a device-specific ROM image unless they sold a lot of units and there is a developer community as a result.
DrSteve on March 29, 2011 at 3:02 PM
Analysis:
Here
and Here
JeffB. on March 29, 2011 at 3:04 PM
1974 puts the original lawsuit in the Nixon-Ford years, not the Carter years.
teke184 on March 29, 2011 at 3:05 PM
Example. Note this is an at-your-own-risk activity, provided fyi only!
DrSteve on March 29, 2011 at 3:12 PM
I stand, corrected. Thank you.
The point remains the same, back then big was always evil…’cept government.
coldwarrior on March 29, 2011 at 3:14 PM
What they could do (that would keep the current T-mobile customers happy at least) is leave T-Mobile ‘as-is’, like a subsidiary. Connect the hidden,underlying tech, but keep them seperate.
But you know they won’t do that. I am pretty happy with pay as you go/no contract tmobile gsm. I own my own phones.
orbitalair on March 29, 2011 at 3:14 PM
Bellvue is in the 8th Congressional district. It is currently held by…..a Reopublican. Most of Seattle is batshit crazy leftist. But there are some sane people in the area as well and many live in Bellvue.
angryed on March 29, 2011 at 3:28 PM
I only have AT&T because I wanted an iPhone. Now that Verizon is in the iPhone world, buh bye AT&T and good riddance.
angryed on March 29, 2011 at 3:31 PM
Wasn’t it Sen. Tim Wirth, a democrat, that broke up AT&T?
sadatoni on March 29, 2011 at 5:32 PM
It’s too bad bcs I was a backpacker & loved living there.
But the hippies & the leftists ruined W. WA.
E. WA is still pretty decent.
But I like Red Land. ND.
Leftists are here, but they are much more ‘cooperative’.
Badger40 on March 29, 2011 at 5:35 PM
Bothell & Mill Creek used to be normal, but the citified ignoramuses moved in, just like what happened in Woodinville & Monroe & Fall City etc.
They may call themselves Republicans, but many of them were some of the 1st a-holes to push out farms bcs they ‘smelled’.
I will never forget this. People complaining in the suburbs of stinky cow poo, when they are the very people who moved there to escape the city.
They then turned it into the city.
RINOS.
Badger40 on March 29, 2011 at 5:38 PM
Ugh, Creep-o mobile. not sure if that’s a legit company, or just a Soros-funded shell.
Anyway, there are lots of apparent choices, but we will soon be down to only three actual national networks. VzW, ATT, and Sprint (CDMA). Sprint-Nextel (iDen) and T-Mobile still exist – for now. There’s Metro and Cricket – in big markets only. So if you are talking on a cell phone in most parts of the country, regardless of your carrier, it won’t be long before there will only be 3 networks you can possibly using, and ATT will have the only GSM network.
forest on March 29, 2011 at 5:57 PM
I don’t live somewhere where there is more that 3 choices.
Local company, Verizon,Alltel-now AT&T.
forest is right. Pretty soon, as a result of all of these mergers, we’re going to be ending up consolidating everything into one or 2 big things.
This happened to the meat packing industry.
The pork & poultry industry has been pretty much destroyed by this.
The beef industry has been slowly dying bcs (in part) of it.
Badger40 on March 29, 2011 at 6:33 PM
Ah, a marriage between AT&T and T-Mobile.
I’ll bet there will be no reception…
Gunslinger on March 29, 2011 at 7:39 PM
What are you talking about?
Bellevue doesn’t vote heavily Democratic. It votes for moderate rotary club Republicans like Jane Hague.
Sackett on March 29, 2011 at 8:15 PM
Testing
AZfederalist on March 29, 2011 at 9:54 PM
Alright, final attempt. This is a really funny take on the merger. Follow the top link in this bing search. Cringely is quite funny.
AZfederalist on March 29, 2011 at 9:59 PM
BTW, I tried directly linking to the Cringely article 4 different times, and the nanny censoring software for some reason didn’t like the direct link. Follow the Bing link, it’s funny
AZfederalist on March 29, 2011 at 10:00 PM
Well, as an aside, ATT just sent me an email saying that they are going to institute Bandwidth caps on all users regardless of what plan you have. If you watch too many movies your going to get fined. I use Netflix streaming and with HD, it won’t be difficult to hit the limit.
My question is this due to Net-Nutrality going coming into play with some sort new regulation nudge?
I’ll be voting with my wallet and canceling my ATT and going back to local municipal cable system. Not as good, but at least my money will be staying in the community.
JeffVader on March 30, 2011 at 1:19 AM