The Rural Cellular Association today continued to urge the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice not to approve the proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile, saying further industry consolidation will negatively impact job creation, investment, innovation and consumers.
The RCA participated in a panel discussion with representatives from Sprint, Public Knowledge, National Hispanic Media Coalition, Consumers Union and Free Press. Tim Donovan, vice president of legislative affairs at RCA, said, “Despite AT&T’s claims, the proposed merger will do very little to benefit rural America. As reported in the FCC’s Wireless Competition Report, by acquiring T-Mobile, AT&T would gain only 0.1 percent of spectrum for deploying mobile broadband services in rural areas." He added that AT&T currently has the spectrum available to build out in rural America, yet it is choosing to eliminate a national competitor rather than build out in areas that need it the most.
Steven K. Berry, president and CEO of RCA, said in a statement, “If AT&T really wants to help rural and hard-to-reach areas, the company could embrace interoperability and enter into 4G data roaming agreements with competitive carriers."
Berry said if the AT&T takeover of T-Mobile is approved, he is confident that rural consumers will be subjected to higher prices and fewer choices.
“I hope the FCC and DOJ will seriously consider the detrimental effects to consumers as they continue to review the proposed acquisition," Berry said.
