Bellsouth / AT&T Merger Approved

[BunLengthHotDog]

"Merger Approved...Welcome to the New AT&T"

Late last night, AT&T sent word to the FCC that it would agree to some concessions (naked dsl etc)...since that notice was sent, the FCC has now approved the merger

Atlanta Journal Constitution

CNN Link

 

[raz3000]

I'm gad the FCC forced ATT to agree to accept net neutrality for the next 30 months. That's a huge concession.

 

[smack Down]

Originally posted by: raz3000
I'm gad the FCC forced ATT to agree to accept net neutrality for the next 30 months. That's a huge concession.

Lol yeah they have to wait 30 months before bending the consumer over. Gee thanks FCC.

 

[BunLengthHotDog]

Can't find the old link from AJC, but AT&T supposedly agreed to the following concessions

1) accept net neutrality for 30 months as stated above.
2) Naked DSL available (no phone account required) starting at 19.95
3) Bring back 3000 outsourced jobs (mostly helpdesk) to US
4) Sell or make available wireless technology currently in developement
5) lease lines in CO's to competitors

I cannot recall the others, but those 5 jumped out as the most important issues.

 

[BunLengthHotDog]

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: raz3000
I'm gad the FCC forced ATT to agree to accept net neutrality for the next 30 months. That's a huge concession.

Lol yeah they have to wait 30 months before bending the consumer over. Gee thanks FCC.

30 months longer than the other providers. It could have been 0

 

[raz3000]

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: raz3000
I'm gad the FCC forced ATT to agree to accept net neutrality for the next 30 months. That's a huge concession.

Lol yeah they have to wait 30 months before bending the consumer over. Gee thanks FCC.

ATT has been the most vocal about the need for a "tiered" internet. Now they will be forced to back off their rhetoric for a while. Without their barking attack dog the other players in the camp will also play nicer.

 

[smack Down]

Originally posted by: raz3000

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: raz3000
I'm gad the FCC forced ATT to agree to accept net neutrality for the next 30 months. That's a huge concession.

Lol yeah they have to wait 30 months before bending the consumer over. Gee thanks FCC.

ATT has been the most vocal about the need for a "tiered" internet. Now they will be forced to back off their rhetoric for a while. Without their barking attack dog the other players in the camp will also play nicer.

Wrong, It just gives a date for when tiered internet should be rolled out.

 

[DealMonkey]

So when AT&T reforms their mighty monopoly can we haul their asses into court again and impose a federal break-up?

 

[ebaycj]

Originally posted by: BunLengthHotDog

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: raz3000
I'm gad the FCC forced ATT to agree to accept net neutrality for the next 30 months. That's a huge concession.

Lol yeah they have to wait 30 months before bending the consumer over. Gee thanks FCC.

30 months longer than the other providers. It could have been 0

And having such a big player like AT&T doing it would probably mean that the others will follow suit so as not to lose business to AT&T.

 

[ebaycj]

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: raz3000

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: raz3000
I'm gad the FCC forced ATT to agree to accept net neutrality for the next 30 months. That's a huge concession.

Lol yeah they have to wait 30 months before bending the consumer over. Gee thanks FCC.

ATT has been the most vocal about the need for a "tiered" internet. Now they will be forced to back off their rhetoric for a while. Without their barking attack dog the other players in the camp will also play nicer.

Wrong, It just gives a date for when tiered internet should be rolled out.

It actually sets the date that good (true) Net Neutrality legislation needs to be passed by.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Originally posted by: DealMonkey
So when AT&T reforms their mighty monopoly can we haul their asses into court again and impose a federal break-up?

:laugh: I was wondering if I was the only one who caught that. All the baby Bells slowly merging back together again...

 

[Schadenfroh]

Good, maybe they will make BellSouth suck less in my area.

 

[Lemon law]

At&T regaining a wired monopoly will be a great incentive for wireless providers everywhere. First chance I get--I'm chucking AT&T.
If not its just going to be the people rising up and demanding their breakup---monopolies always lead to abuse.

As the 2006 election demonstrates--people are very uneasy about Republican policies.
And 2008 is just around the corner.

 

[Lanyap]

Here is the final Proposed Merger Commitments doc.
http://www.fcc.gov/ATT_FINALMergerCommitments12-28.pdf

 

[BoomerD]

Welcome to our world. SBC "merged" with Pacific Bell a couple of years ago, then, last year, they "merged" with AT&T...Now Bell South...how many are left before it's the same old monopoly that was broken up 20 years ago?

 

[herkulease]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
Welcome to our world. SBC "merged" with Pacific Bell a couple of years ago, then, last year, they "merged" with AT&T...Now Bell South...how many are left before it's the same old monopoly that was broken up 20 years ago?

Yeah I know. What's even more wierd is why SBC decided use AT&T name.

So its down to 3 carriers for the whole US. Qwest, Verizon and SBC/AT&T.

At least I still have my pac bell email account to remember the old days.

 

[raz3000]

Originally posted by: herkulease

Originally posted by: BoomerD
Welcome to our world. SBC "merged" with Pacific Bell a couple of years ago, then, last year, they "merged" with AT&T...Now Bell South...how many are left before it's the same old monopoly that was broken up 20 years ago?

Yeah I know. What's even more wierd is why SBC decided use AT&T name.

So its down to 3 carriers for the whole US. Qwest, Verizon and SBC/AT&T.

At least I still have my pac bell email account to remember the old days.

The telecom industry has changed. They are under assault by the cable industry who are gaining millions of landline phone customers via VoIP. The landline phone business has also fallen by tens of millions of people who use only cellphones.

ATT bought Bellsouth not to gain a "monopoly" in the landline phone business, but to now control all of Cingular Wireless, which is the largest single entity of both ATT and Bellsouth. Cingular is far from a monopoly of course. Verizon Wireless is just as big.

Interestingly, Verizon owns only 55% of Verizon Wireless and has been under pressure to purchase the remaining 45% stake from Britain's Vodaphone. To do so Verizon would have to pay $50-$75 billion.

 

[Legend]

Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy

Originally posted by: DealMonkey
So when AT&T reforms their mighty monopoly can we haul their asses into court again and impose a federal break-up?

:laugh: I was wondering if I was the only one who caught that. All the baby Bells slowly merging back together again...

Yeah, but there's all the mobile competition too.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy

Originally posted by: DealMonkey
So when AT&T reforms their mighty monopoly can we haul their asses into court again and impose a federal break-up?

:laugh: I was wondering if I was the only one who caught that. All the baby Bells slowly merging back together again...

Actually it hasn't shrunk as much as it seems. When AT&T was broken up, it was only split in to 7 companies(however there were additional companies from the time of AT&T who were before and after independent firms), so now that we're down to 3 major companies, it's only a little over a half-shrink. However it seems fairly clear at this point that either Verizon or AT&T will pick up Qwest within the next year and bring the total count down to 2.

 

[squirrel dog]

Submit to the "Death Star" . Thats the AT&T logo . Its all about the branding. Law suit ? The original suit that broke up the first incarnation of at&t was filed in the early fifties,to force a breakup in 1984 .

 

[ScottMac]

Originally posted by: DealMonkey
So when AT&T reforms their mighty monopoly can we haul their asses into court again and impose a federal break-up?

Won't happen: It's no longer a monopoly. Instead of one extremely large Telco, we now have one extremely large Telco *with competition*

Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) get a pretty good deal from the Incumbent LECs (ILECs) on lines & facilities. They get the lines cheap enough to mark up the cost (and be profitable) and still be (occasionally) lower in consumer cost than the service offered by the ILEC.

SBC & AT&T didn't "merge," SBC bought AT&T. The AT&T name was adopted because it had global recognition, whereas SBC was barely known outside their 13 state footprint.
BellSouth is also not a merger, it was purchased.

They are now the largest Telco-like organization on this side of the globe. More Cellular lines, more DSL lines, more consumer lines, more commercial lines, etc than any of the other similar companies.

"Telco-like" because, in the industry, Telco is generally the owner/operator of the infrastructure and basic dial tone. Other "affiliates" generally offer the DSL, L2/L3 services (Frame Relay, ATM, MPLS), ISP services, Hosting Services, Security services and other stuff.

And soon (now in some markets), Video over IP ala "Cable TV"

FWIW

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Didn't the government force a breakup of AT&T in the early '80's? It's ironic that AT&T (or rather SBC under the name AT&T) is growing into a near-monopoly again. Of course, it's not as though the phone companies don't have (essentially) local monopolies anyway.

 

[DealMonkey]

IMHO, nothing competes with a land-line, because nothing sounds as good and is as reliable. Certainly not VOIP and definitely not cellular service.

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: DealMonkey
IMHO, nothing competes with a land-line, because nothing sounds as good and is as reliable. Certainly not VOIP and definitely not cellular service.

I will have to agree a real wireline beats wireless everytime. However cable viop service is probably just as good for the most part. The only drawback to cable viop is that it relies on batteries if the power goes out. Soon both the telecoms and cablecomx will be offering the same services.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: charrison

Originally posted by: DealMonkey
IMHO, nothing competes with a land-line, because nothing sounds as good and is as reliable. Certainly not VOIP and definitely not cellular service.

I will have to agree a real wireline beats wireless everytime. However cable viop service is probably just as good for the most part. The only drawback to cable viop is that it relies on batteries if the power goes out. Soon both the telecoms and cablecomx will be offering the same services.

What's really sad is having to go to inferior technologies because the rich and greedy have made the old superior technology too expensive for the non-rich to have.

Alex Bell is not proud now.