AT&T Takes Jab at the Sprint & Softbank Deal; Suggests Heavy Scrutiny

[dgstorm]

It looks like AT&T may be expressing a little bit of bitterness about the past, when it comes to the proposed Sprint buyout by Softbank. They just issued a statement regarding the proposed buyout that doesn't outright condemn the deal, but attempts to point out an idea that might undermine the process. AT&T pointed out that if Softbank purchases Sprint, then a foreign company will own a large portion of our national cellular airwaves. Here's their alarmist statement,

"Softbank's acquisition of Sprint and the control it gains over Clearwire will give one of Japan's largest wireless companies control of significantly more U.S. wireless spectrum than any other company. We expect that fact and others will be fully explored in the regulatory review process. This is one more example of a very dynamic and competitive U.S. wireless marketplace, which is an important fact for U.S. regulators to recognize."

Could this be a little case of "sour grapes" over what happened with their own proposed merger with T-Mobile from last year? To refresh your memory, AT&T attempted to buy out T-Mobile last year. The deal failed under intense scrutiny by several agencies of the US Federal Government. A number of other organizations testified in order to stop the deal, and it was eventually found to be anti-competitive. Sprint was one of the loudest opponents of the deal. The shoe seems to be on the other foot now for the Now Network. Although the deal is expected to pass muster, it is possible that AT&T's perspective could "throw a monkey wrench" into the process.

What do you think? Is this something we should be concerned about, or is AT&T just trying to get a little revenge? Perhaps a little of both?

Source: BGR

 

[tjk629]

If people find this amusing y'all should read AT&T statement on why they should be able to acquire T-Mobile. That was a hoot and a half.

 

[liftedplane]

AT&T is just pissed that they couldn't get their deal to go through, this is alot different, instead of an american company acquiring a foreign company, this is a foreign company acquiring an american one... it'll bring a fresh perspective, not to mention japan destroys is when it comes to technology maybe this will help us get some of those awesome japanese only devices we see.

 

[94lt1]

It is a concern to the government too... huwaii sp on that... was going to do a large part of someones network... the US had an issue with China being involved... its a nightmare for us from a security stand point... they could intercept all sorts of Intel... that's the concern from that part..

Japan is supposedly an ally... but we'll see how this is taken.

 

[liftedplane]

It is a concern to the government too... huwaii sp on that... was going to do a large part of someones network... the US had an issue with China being involved... its a nightmare for us from a security stand point... they could intercept all sorts of Intel... that's the concern from that part..

Japan is supposedly an ally... but we'll see how this is taken.

like they aren't already intercepting large amounts of intel... really... countries are ALWAYS spying on each other, allies or not. getting some of out "bandwidth" wouldn't change it at all. and it's not like they need to buyout a company to access said data. it's all just smoke and mirrors.