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AT&T To Buy Cricket

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They're buying it to dismantle it?

ReaperXero

Jul 12, 2013, 9:01 PM
Am I reading this right? They're buying Cricket to dismantle the CDMA because of compatability?
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DarkStar

Jul 12, 2013, 9:03 PM
They want the Spectrum that Leap has to increase their coverage.
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T Bone

Jul 12, 2013, 11:41 PM
From the sounds of it, they aren't going to dismantle Cricket, it will remain a separate, pre-paid subsidiary within at&t, but they plan to integrate the two networks in order to improve coverage for both. Every person I've known who used Cricket has complained about bad coverage so merging with at&t will improve improve coverage for customers of at&t and customers of Cricket....which sounds like 'win-win' to me....
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Jayshmay

Jul 13, 2013, 6:58 AM
I still don't like this. Both ATT & Vzn are way, way too big.
The have well over 50% of the entire U.S. population.

That can't be said about cable tv, any other service.
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acdc1a

Jul 13, 2013, 8:35 AM
I think this was a strategic move to keep it out of the hands of T-Mobile which is a dirty shame. Sprint and T-Mobile both need to be competitive players in the market. With every buyout at AT&T and/or Verizon it put them at a bigger disadvantage.
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Jayshmay

Jul 13, 2013, 8:38 AM
Then why hasn't Tmobile gone after the spectrum?
Tmobile needs to be more aggressive.
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acdc1a

Jul 13, 2013, 9:10 AM
They just finished a reverse merger with Metro PCS...
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Jayshmay

Jul 13, 2013, 9:21 AM
Every single time someone uses the language "reverse merger" all it does is confuse, and confuse more.

It's like a bank talking about a "reverse mortgage".

Also, T-Mobile needs to be morrre aggressive than just merging with Metro. Leap Wireless has 1700AWS spectrum, which thanks to T-Mobile not being aggressive,. . .is now in the hands of ATT.
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Jarahawk

Jul 13, 2013, 12:51 PM
It's easy to spend someone else's money.
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ReaperXero

Jul 13, 2013, 1:25 PM
I SEE it as buying a small competitor to close it.. but that's just me
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Versed

Jul 13, 2013, 4:39 PM
So what should the government do? Give majority foreign owned corporations free spectrum, or take it from other corporations?
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T Bone

Jul 13, 2013, 11:15 AM
The fact that T-Mobile and Sprint are not capable of competing, largely due to bad strategic thinking and poor decision making on their own part is not the fault of either at&t or Verizon.


Here''s the thing though: in a truly free market, monopolies CANNOT exist because there is no economic advantage to being a monopoly. All monopolies that have ever existed in the history of business have been the direct result of government action. Only government can create a monopoly, the free market cannot. So if the problem is too little competition, the solution is to make the market MORE free....not less so.
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ReaperXero

Jul 13, 2013, 1:28 PM
This is an old continued argument, but buying out the competition to control the market evidently is fine under your terms. AT&T has tons of unused spectrum that select not to use, then finds excuses "we need more spectrum" It's all about who controls the "spice" AT&T has been proven of this type of business practice since the 80's.
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Versed

Jul 13, 2013, 4:44 PM
Sprint has its own horde of unused spectrum, stuff not used for nearly as long as AT&T, Just poor planning on Sprints part.


As far as TMO, they can toss a bid out for Leap, they should, but don't blame AT&T for doing it. Problem is DT doesn't wish to invest mich more in the US. Sad.
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Rich Brome

Jul 13, 2013, 2:12 PM
Huh? If you buy out all of your competitors, and the barriers to entry are high enough, you can absolutely create an effective monopoly in a free market. And the economic advantage is that you can then raise prices.

That's why the government actively works to prevent monopolies.

In the wireless market, things are further constrained by the fact that radio spectrum is a limited resource. If you own all of the relevant radio licenses in a market, then you absolutely have a monopoly.
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T Bone

Jul 13, 2013, 3:18 PM
That is simply not how ANY of the historical 'big monopolies' got their start....there nothing in that summary you provided which actually fits the historical record...even in the 19th century people knew that wasn't how it happened.

The reason why it was possible for those companies to buy up all of their competitors was because the government made it possible by passing laws favoring one company over another.

It is simply not economically possible for a company to simply 'buy up all of its competitors' unless the government does something to make it possible by giving one company an advantage over another.

Look at the historical monopolies.....US Steel, Standard, at&t, the British East India Company....etc.....every single one...
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Troper

Jul 13, 2013, 4:35 PM
It's a sugar TARIFF, not subsidy. Corn recieves a subsidy, which is why HFCS is so prominent.
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T Bone

Jul 14, 2013, 10:03 PM
Fair enough....I was on a good rant there.....

And it is as a result of the tariffs passed in the 1860's and 1870's that led to the creation of Standard OIl, US Steel and all the big 'trusts' of the 1880's and 1890's......

The tariff is just a way for government to favor one company over another....

Protectionist policies almost always result in the creation of monopolies....
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Zpike

Jul 14, 2013, 12:34 AM
I agree with you completely about monopolies and free markets. Typically, governments have to change the rules (make the market not so free) in order for companies to get the leverage to become monopolies. But in those heavily regulated (not so free) markets, government endorsed monopolies can be a really good thing (for the company). Just ask your electric company. So, under our current socialist system, most corporations are clamoring for ways to become monopolies. They need not fear any of the negative consequences you just described. But if our market truly was free then you would be right about what would happen to them as they became monopolies.

Also, I would contest that you were very wrong about what happened to ATT. Cingular neve...
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dave73

Jul 14, 2013, 1:12 AM
Have to make a correction on the whole AT&T/Cingular topic. Cingular Wireless was a partnership between SBC & Bell South (both baby bells). The original AT&T was Ma Bell, & they had AT&T Wireless. . Cingular bought out the original AT&T Wireless, & was merged with Cingular. Then SBC bought out Ma Bell, AT&T, then remaned themselves AT&T (or using it in lowercase, at&t). In order to rename Cingular AT&T, SBC had to buy out Bell South, since Bell South was against SBC renaming the wireless company at&t. When AT&T bought out Bell South, the Cingular name was dropped for the at&t name.

Now for the article, this buyout is not good news. In the Chicago market, we just lost USCC, since USCC gave up on competing in Chicago (and all areas ...
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DarkStar

Jul 13, 2013, 4:54 PM
Yes but who is the competition for cable tv? You can't choose between Charter and Time Warner. They own the area's they are in. Only in the past 5 years did the phone company become competition for the cable companies. But same with the phone company you can't choose AT&T and Verizon. Who is the company in your area is the one you have to go with.
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Versed

Jul 13, 2013, 4:36 PM
Probably would do something similar to what TMO is doing with MetroPCS, offereing higher end Android phones on the GSM network, and start a phaseout of CDMA.
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Rich Brome

Jul 13, 2013, 2:17 PM
They're buying it for the prepaid brand, the customers (and the employees and infrastructure to support them,) and the radio spectrum.

Naturally they will seek a unified network of compatible technology, as with all mobile network mergers. Cricket - like all CDMA carriers - is moving from CDMA to LTE. Their plan was to dump CDMA eventually anyway. So AT&T will do with Cricket exactly what T-Mobile is doing with Metro, and simply accelerate the shutdown of CDMA, focusing on LTE instead.
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colione112

Jul 17, 2013, 12:09 AM
I've read the press release... but around half the company owned stores will close by Thanksgiving which is well before the purchase is complete. They can label it what they want; but we all know it is because of the acquisition.
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