Action Alert -- Don't let AT&T get a new Monopoly

I received this e-mail alert from an organization called FreePress.net. I am posting it below. (Posting in full because copyright doesn't apply. They want people to see this.) More information available at http://www.freepress.net/

Also, please keep this visible with an occasional kick. It IS important.

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If you were around in the 80s, you might be experiencing a horrible flashback right about now.

No, it’s not because legwarmers and spandex are in style again. It’s because AT&T, that monopoly that once lorded over your rotary phone, has resurfaced with a scheme to rule your mobile phone as well.

Back in the 80s, AT&T’s power was near absolute. That’s why government regulators stepped in to break it up and protect the American people against abuse.

Now, with AT&T’s planned $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile, we’re reaching the danger point again.

Tell the FCC: Step in Now to Stop AT&T’s Mega-Merger

Unless the FCC rejects this merger, Americans stand to lose control over the future of communications.

That's why so many have already flooded the FCC with comments since news of this outrageous merger became public. And that's why we need you to speak out again today.

We can’t let just two companies – AT&T and Verizon – control nearly 80 percent of the mobile marketplace. If the FCC rubber-stamps this deal, we’ll be giving these companies unchecked power — at our expense.

That means you’ll be paying more to have AT&T drop your calls; and access to popular applications like Skype, Slingbox and Google Earth will be limited even further … if AT&T lets you use them at all.

By sending your comment to the FCC, you’re joining thousands of people who have already called on the agency to stop this merger.

Smartphones have placed incredible power in the hands of people across the country and the world. We can’t let that go. We can’t go back to the bad old days of legwarmers and AT&T.

The FCC must do its job and stop this merger.

Thank you,

Timothy Karr
Campaign Director
Free Press
www.freepress.net

Bell was probably the closest thing we had to a beneficial monopoly in the country's history (their labs invented things like lasers, UNIX, and feed-forward control loops). The FCC screwed up the breakup so badly that nobody had time to monitor what AT&T and Sprint were doing.

Interestingly, Verizon started out as one of the baby Bells.

ATAT was a long distance company that was in the toilet when people started using flat rate calling plans and the internet more and more and long distance less and less.

it's the stepping stone to big money lobbyists jobs.

Only one comminssioner takes his job seriously

Press release with more on this from FreePress website. (Copyright doesn't apply.)

http://www.freepress.net/press-release/2011/5/25/free-press-statement-opposing-proposed-att-t-mobile-merger


Mobile Merger


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: May 25, 2011
Free Press Statement Opposing Proposed AT&T-T-Mobile Merger

WASHINGTON -- Speaking at a press conference hosted by Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, Free Press Policy Counsel Aparna Sridhar said:

“AT&T’s takeover of T-Mobile would leave the wireless market more consolidated than the markets for oil, banking, automobiles and air travel.

“We should all be concerned about this level of concentration in the market for a service that all Americans increasingly depend on. Mobile service is as critical for families as affordable, reliable water and electricity, and communities who can least afford to pay more will bear the cost of lining AT&T’s corporate coffers.”

STATEMENT OF APARNA SRIDHAR, FREE PRESS POLICY COUNSEL
AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY
May 25, 2011

Good afternoon everyone.

Chairman Conyers, Chairman Markey thank you for the opportunity to participate in this discussion. I’m policy counsel at Free Press, a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to reforming the media and ensuring that the public has a voice in media and telecommunications policy debates.

On behalf of Free Press and its half-million members, I am pleased to see that you share our grave concerns about the AT&T-T-Mobile merger. This takeover will raise prices and reduce choices for Americans across the country.

Consider that in a post-merger landscape:

AT&T and Verizon would control nearly 80 percent of the market for mobile telecommunications.

As a result of the merger, the wireless market would be more consolidated than the markets for oil, banking, automobiles and air travel. What does that mean? It means that to achieve comparable consolidation in the oil industry, ExxonMobil would have to merge with BP, Shell, Chevron-Texaco and Citgo. And to make the comparison still more accurate, Exxon would not only have to merge, but would require you to buy only Exxon gas for the next two years.

We should all be concerned about this level of concentration in the market for a service that all Americans increasingly depend on. Mobile service is as critical for families as affordable, reliable water and electricity, and communities who can least afford to pay more will bear the cost of lining AT&T’s corporate coffers. That’s why 50 organizations dedicated to social justice filed a letter today with the Department of Justice and the FCC opposing the merger.

In 1984, when the Justice Department broke up the old Ma Bell, the prevailing consensus was that AT&T had gotten too big. But the AT&T-T-Mobile merger would create a behemoth that’s substantially bigger than the old Bell conglomerate. It really is 1984 all over again.

But this time, in the wake of the Comcast-NBC merger, while the public is wary of big companies controlling too much of the market, it is also wary of public officials who serve the interests of industry instead of the interests of the public. We hope that the Department of Justice, the FCC and members of Congress will take their cues from 1984, follow the lead of the policymakers and organizations in this room, and oppose the merger.

Oh, yes, I do remember.