US government files to block proposed AT&T / T-Mobile merger - Polidicks

Source: [url]http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/31/us-government-files-to-block-propsed-atandt-t-mobile-merger/[/url] [quote]You heard right. Bloomberg is reporting that the United States government (!) just filed court papers in Washington, D.C. to block the much ballyhooed tie-up between AT&T and T-Mobile USA. Oddly enough, T-Mobile and AT&T promised this morning that a total of 5,000 jobs would be hand delivered to the US if the two telcos were allowed to become one, but it'll take a heck of a lot more convincing now. For what it's worth, this doesn't mean that the deal is or isn't happening -- it's just another step in the process -- but it most certainly doesn't bode well for proponents. Nor for AT&T's share price. According to the report, the Justice Department feels that the deal would "substantially lessen competition" in the wireless space. In fact, it boldly stated the following: "AT&T's elimination of T-Mobile as an independent, low-priced rival would remove a significant competitive force from the market." If things end up falling apart, it's important to remember that AT&T would be forced to pay Deutsche Telekom $3 billion as a break-up fee, which ought to make Tiger Woods' misfortunes look like an outright bargain.[/quote] Fucking finally.

Gained a bit of faith in the US Gov. now. Cool.

well that's a slap in the face but I'm glad they stepped in against this

Called it

Good.

Doubly funny since AT&T was split up by anti-trust laws

[B]ironman17 Approves[/B] (+10)

AT&T doesn't seem to have learned from it's last split up.

Good, we need more competition.

Fuck yes.

Phone services were originally monopolized by one giant company, right? The government had to split it up into smaller ones just so that people could afford to use phones. It's good that they're also stopping them from merging again.

I got some faith in the government now, wait, never mind, just like iPhone going to Verizon, THERE IS A GOD!

Nice to see my government finally doing something right.

Sounds good. Proud of my government for once in a long time.

[QUOTE=Super Mario Moonshine;32041336]Phone services were originally monopolized by one giant company, right? The government had to split it up into smaller ones just so that people could afford to use phones. It's good that they're also stopping them from merging again.[/QUOTE] Funny enough, the telecommunication monopoly was AT&T. Let me just pull this out of my gigs of infopics: [img]http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/3955/atthisytoryphonetelecom.jpg[/img]

Welcome to Obama's communist America everybody no business is safe from the government overlords free market ron palu 2012

[QUOTE=Zeke129;32042596]Welcome to Obama's communist America everybody no business is safe from the government overlords free market ron palu 2012[/QUOTE]Too bad the "government overlord" has been around for 60 years.

[QUOTE=faze;32042649]Too bad the "government overlord" has been around for 60 years.[/QUOTE] You DO know he's joking. Right?

[QUOTE=Mr. Sun;32041613]Sounds good. Proud of my government for once in a long time.[/QUOTE] [img]http://flagdog.facepunchstudios.com/?ipe=c9e01d7825334cb277462fc5955a9f16[/img] what