{"id":25154,"date":"2019-02-01T15:21:53","date_gmt":"2019-02-01T20:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/?p=25154"},"modified":"2019-02-01T15:21:53","modified_gmt":"2019-02-01T20:21:53","slug":"proposed-t-mobile-sprint-merger-would-be-a-win-for-american-consumers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/25154\/proposed-t-mobile-sprint-merger-would-be-a-win-for-american-consumers\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed T-Mobile\/Sprint Merger Would Be a Win for American Consumers"},"content":{"rendered":"

On February 13, the House Judiciary and Energy & Commerce Committees will hold an important joint hearing<\/a> on the proposed T-Mobile\/Sprint merger that promises greater innovation, more jobs, more private telecommunications investment, increased market competition, faster wireless and greater choice for consumers as America proceeds toward our much-anticipated 5G technological rollout.<\/p>\n

Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D \u2013 New Jersey), Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D \u2013 New York), Communications & Technology Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D \u2013 Pennsylvania) and Antitrust, Commercial & Administrative Law Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline (D \u2013 Rhode Island) state in their joint announcement that, \u201cWe look forward to examining this merger from the perspective of what is in the best interest of consumers and hardworking people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, the answer to that question is clear.<\/p>\n

Compared to the current telecommunications marketplace, the T-Mobile\/Sprint merger will mean an enhanced array of consumer services.\u00a0 Sprint and T-Mobile currently possess differing but symbiotic assets, rather than overlapping ones that might otherwise simply mean a bigger company instead of two smaller (and less competitive) ones.\u00a0 As a result, the new entity would create a new network with broader nationwide coverage, capacity improvements and improved wireless performance for customers compared to what American consumers currently enjoy.\u00a0 As has been exhaustively demonstrated by CFIF<\/a> and others<\/a>, the proposed merger also promises lower costs for consumers, new jobs and necessary network upgrades.<\/p>\n

In particular, the proposed merger offers significant potential benefits through deployment of the first 5G wireless network in the U.S., as CFIF has noted<\/a>:<\/p>\n

With an anticipated $40 billion investment in 5G, consumers will enjoy data delivery at a lower cost, and the incentive for competitors to similarly lower prices to consumers.\u00a0 That will also prompt market competition to expand spectrum in rural areas in addition to urban centers, as well as capacity improvements for consumers.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s how market competition works.\u00a0 A T-Mobile\/Sprint merger and its 5G deployment would also mean billions in new private infrastructure investment and countless new jobs.\u00a0 In contrast, the absence of a T-Mobile\/Sprint merger would mean slower deployment of a 5G nationwide network, and the absence of a market competitor of greater scale.\u00a0 Ultimately that means consumers would lose. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is simply no point in needless delay or contentiousness when the House Judiciary and Energy & Commerce Committees convene on February 13.\u00a0 The proposed Sprint\/T-Mobile merger offers only benefits to American consumers compared to the existing status quo.\u00a0 The Committees must recognize that reality, lest we pay an unnecessary price in terms of slower 5G, fewer consumer choices, fewer jobs, less investment and less market competition.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On February 13, the House Judiciary and Energy & Commerce Committees will hold an important joint hearing on the proposed T-Mobile\/Sprint merger that promises greater innovation, more jobs, more private telecommunications investment, increased market competition, faster wireless and greater choice for consumers as America proceeds toward our much-anticipated 5G technological rollout. Energy & Commerce Committee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[466,5054,1492,3223,4197,3013],"class_list":["post-25154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts","tag-antitrust","tag-houe-energy-commerce-committee","tag-judiciary-committee","tag-merger","tag-sprint","tag-t-mobile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25155,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25154\/revisions\/25155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}