I Have No Pants And I Must Scream

Earlier today, AT&T announced its intention to purchase wireless carrier T-Mobile USA for $39 billion.

The following statement is attributed to Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:

“The combination of the second-largest wireless carrier, AT&T, with the fourth-largest, T-Mobile is, as former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt once said, ‘unthinkable.’ We urge policymakers to think similarly today.  The wireless market, now dominated by four big companies, would have only three at the top.  We know the results of arrangements like this – higher prices, fewer choices, less innovation.  “The fact that AT&T and T-Mobile would even think of such a combination shows how desperately the U.S. needs both strong network neutrality rules and  a competition policy that requires dominant broadband providers to make their networks available to competitors.”