regarding that proposed ATT takeover of TM

[danny burstein]

With the disclosure that I'm both a TM customer and
also a shareholder.

Seems to me this is a major anti trust issue, one that's
big enough that we just might, even under the current
"see nothing wrong" gov't agencies, get some action.

I've just communicated to my various Washington critters
that this would, if approved, lead to just three major
national cellular carriers.

But it's worse than that.

First, the two others are flirting with their own merger,
which would lead to just two cellular companies.

And second, one (ATT/TM) is GSM, the other (Sprint/VZ)
is CDMA.

Claiming that this would still be a competitive marketplace
is analogous to having one national supplier of gasoline
and another for diesel fuel. Sure, they're both liquids
used for highway traffic. But to switch from one to the
other (even accepting that a duopoly is at all competitive)
sure isn't practical.

_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
***@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

[Bert Hyman]

Post by danny burstein
Seems to me this is a major anti trust issue, one that's
big enough that we just might, even under the current
"see nothing wrong" gov't agencies, get some action.

Anti-trust is entirely in the eye of the beholder; the laws and
regulations are far from objective.

Depending on whose palms are greased by whom, the deal might well go
through without a second glance.