While several of the concerns that MetroPCS shareholders had were addressed, a couple are still unchanged. If the merger goes through, MetroPCS investors will still only have a 26% stake in the combined company, and its shares will be worth $4 each. However, MetroPCS shareholders may be willing to compromise. MetroPCS pushed back the shareholders meeting from April 12th to the 24th of this month to give shareholders a chance to consider the revised offer.

Analysts believe that DK’s improved offer will drive many shareholders to change their previous mindset and encourage them to vote in favor of the combined company. P. Schoenfeld Asset Management LP, one of MetroPCS’s major shareholders who was against the merger, stated that it was pleased with the revised offer and is conferring with its advisers about its position on the merger.

Along with T-Mobile merging with MetroPCS, DISH Network has reportedly spoken with Deutsche Telekom about another possible merger. DK stated that it would consider a merger with DISH when the MetroPCS deal closes. Merging with DISH Network as well would provide T-Mobile the much-needed boost it needs in order to compete with the other 3 major wireless carriers. The merger will also have a higher chance of being approved compared to the failed merger between T-Mobile and AT&T.

[via CNET]

DT’s improved offer lowers the debt transferred to MetroPCS by $3.8 billion and it also reduces the interest rate of that debt by 0.5%. It also agreed to hold onto its shares for at least 18 months once the deal closes. MetroPCS pushed back Friday’s shareholders meeting to April 24th so that shareholders can consider the revised offer. P. Schoenfeld Asset Management LP, a major shareholder of MetroPCS who had been against the pending merger, was pleased by the new offer and is reconsidering its position.

DISH has wanted to break into the wireless industry for a while. It had conferred with many wireless companies about mergers, and has also considered starting its own wireless service, similar to Radio Shack. DISH even tried to purchase the remaining 49.6% of Clearwire. Now its looking to make a deal with T-Mobile in order to get its “in” in the wireless industry so that it can be more than just a satellite television company.

DISH would offer wireless/digital television bundles if it is able to secure a deal with T-Mobile. Currently, DISH Network has $10 billion in cash, making it the company with the largest cash pile compared to other U.S. television and phone providers, and also making it very capable of merging with T-Mobile. DISH’s potential merger with T-Mobile will be much more acceptable to regulators compared to AT&T’s attempted merger with the company. Unlike AT&T’s merger plans with T-Mobile, DISH merging with the company will not remove the 4th largest wireless carrier in the nation from the wireless industry, but instead reinforce its capabilities.

[via Bloomberg]

The improved offer will reduce the amount of debt MetroPCS will be responsible for when the merger completes. It will also reduce the debt’s interest rate. Debt is one of the major factors holding back many of MetroPCS’s biggest shareholders from approving the deal. While Deutsche Telekom seems to have addressed that, there are several other factors that it needs to consider, including MetroPCS’s share in the merged companies, as well as the price of its shares.

When the deal goes through, MetroPCS will own only 26% of the merged company, and its shares will only be worth $4 each. Many proxy advisers, including Institutional Shareholder Services, an adviser to many major shareholders, has recommended that MetroPCS investors vote against the merger. The adviser, as well as many shareholders, have stated that MetroPCS has a chance of surviving on its own without T-Mobile’s help.

While Deutsche Telekom’s deal is a big improvement over its previous offer, it’s still uncertain whether or not shareholders will bite. Sources have told The Wall Street Journal that the meeting on April 12th could be pushed to a later date in order to give shareholders more time to consider the revised offer. Before news of the improved merger offer, the chances of a merger happening were looking pretty grim. T-Mobile USA needs MetroPCS in order to compete against the other major carriers, and in order to build out its LTE network. We’ll keep you updated on what happens at the merger meeting this Friday.

[via Wall Street Journal]

In addition to announcing the merger, it was revealed that eMusic’s CEO Adam Klein is also stepping down. Mr. Klein said in an email he sent out that he is “very pleased” with these new business matters and the two companies’ merger, as well as with the direction the company – which has been around since 1998 – is heading.

K-NFB Reading Inc., meanwhile, is a distributor of ebooks and the Blio ereader software. According to the Wall Street Journal, K-NFB Reading Inc. was founded by Google’s Director of Engineering Ray Kurzweil. Combined with eMusic, the two services working as Media Arc Inc. will offer 600,000 ebooks, 40,000 audio books, and 17 million songs. By merging, the companies anticipate being able to better compete with competitors.

Said the companies in a statement: “Media Arc’s mission is to provide the best digital media discovery experience possible by leveraging cross-content insights to recommend new music and books to avid readers and music collectors alike. This will present both authors and artists with a unique opportunity to expand their fan base, reach new audiences, and of course sell more content.”

[via Wall Street Journal]

Now that the Department of Justice is out of the way, the acquisition deal now needs to make its way through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Committee on Foreign Investment, and MetroPCS shareholders, who are scheduled to vote on the merger on April 12, as previously reported a couple days ago.

MetroPCS is obviously encouraging shareholders to vote yes, and they say that voting for the merger has the same effect as voting against it. T-Mobile says that if shareholders vote against the merger, “there is no assurance that MetroPCS will be able to deliver the same or better stockholder value.”

Executive boards at both carriers have already approved the merger, and T-Mobile aims to migrate all MetroPCS customers over to T-Mobile’s system by 2015. T-Mobile is the US’s 4th-largest carrier, with MetroPCS being the 5th largest. While the merger may not put T-Mobile in third place, it certainly give the carrier quite a boost that it’s been wanting.

[via eWeek]

It would appear that Google is not quite ready to comment on this situation, though with two high-ranking names such as these being re-arranged, we expect some word sooner than later. The man known as Don Harrison has been with Google for more than five years and has been responsible for more than 70 deals at the company. The group known as Google Ventures is where Harrison currently stakes his place in the tech giant’s family, and again, his move has not yet been confirmed.

Meanwhile Lawee has been reported to be moving to a group within Google that would oversee late-stage investments completely separate from Google Ventures. It’s not yet known what this group will operate as or what it will invest in specifically, but it’s likely to be a significant entity within the company.

Google has made a number of high-level acquisitions over the past year and will continue to be a name that smaller companies will have a hard time turning down when their cash comes a-calling. It’s not often that Google makes a giant deal of the companies and technologies it purchases outright, but when it does, it makes waves. Have a peek at the app Snapseed right this minute to see the last big splash Google made this Autumn.

Have a peek at the timeline below to see a rather wild cross-section of Google acquisitions over the past few years, including such hits as Motorola and YouTube.

Yesterday, AllThingsD confirmed that Deutsche Telekom was indeed meeting with MetroPCS representatives today, and that the two companies could even come to an agreement by the end of the day. It seems there was no hesitation in the discussion, as the two have already come to an agreement. Deutsche Telekom will hold a 74% stake in the merged company, while MetroPCS will hold the remaining 26% and will also receive $1.5 billion in cash.

Based on analyst estimates, T-Mobile is now expected to have around 42.5 million subscribers and receive $24.8 billion of revenue this year. The merger is just one big step for T-Mobile to become a stronger wireless carrier in the US. They hope that the acquisition of MetroPCS will move them into the third spot in the race for the largest US wireless carrier.

John Legere, who was just recently hired as CEO of T-Mobile, said that the merger with MetroPCS “is another logical and significant step” that will allow T-Mobile “to deliver amazing, affordable and trusted 4G services, while providing opportunities to expand geographic territories and serve more customers.”

It’s certainly not an uncommon part of mergers and Google has executed layoffs after acquisitions before. For instance, when Google bought DoubleClick it laid off 40 percent of the company’s staff. A TechCrunch source also reveals that the next step after the approval would be a “listening tour” in which new management will visit and observe all of Motorola’s operations to see what everyone does and then make decisions.

When Google announced the acquisition back in August of last year, they explained the decision as a way to defend the Android platform with Motorola’s massive IP treasure trove. Google assured its other Android partners that Motorola would not get any special treatment and that Android would remain free and open.

In a memo posted to the AT&T Public Policy blog, Cicconi didn’t mince words for the FCC in a “we told you so” sort of rant. He said that only a few months ago, the FCC refused to listen when AT&T had promised to preserve these very same call centers and jobs if the merger was approved and had predicted the job cuts if the merger failed.

“Rarely are a regulatory agency’s predictive judgments proven so wrong so fast. But for the government’s decision, centers now being closed would be staying open, workers now facing layoffs would have job guarantees, and communities facing turmoil would have security. Only a few months later, the truth of who was right is sadly obvious,” said Cicconi.

Cicconi then ends by making the point that the lesson learned here is the need for “regulatory humility.” Although AT&T may be right about the layoffs, the consequences of the merger going through may not necessarily have been better. The FCC was more focused on the effects on competition for consumers.

[via AllThingsD]

This merger comes without concern from the EU on whether it will present any competition issues, but the idea that Motorola was purchased for its patents is alive in the minds of more than just Google. EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia spoke on the matter in a set of statements. Almunia said he was worried that Google and other firms involved may raise a series of legal disputes over intellectual property rights. Almunia spoke thusly:

“We have approved the acquisition… because upon careful examination, this transaction does not itself raise competition issues. This merger decision should not and will not mean that we are not concerned by the possibility that, once Google is the owner of this portfolio, Google can abuse these patents, linking some patents with its Android devices. This is our worry. We might be obliged to open some cases in the future. This is not enough to block the merger but we will be vigilant.” – Almunia

In addition to U.S. Justice Department approval, the companies also need approval from Chinese regulators. March 20th should be the date when all of this is finalized, if sources speaking with Reuters are to be believed. Google will use Motorola’s 17,000 patents and 7,500 pending patent applications to defend themselves against the incoming wave of litigation cases coming from rivals like Microsoft and Apple. The war rages on!

[via Reuters]

Both the US DOJ and EC are expected to make their final approvals on Monday, February 13, after which the deal must still seek approval in China, Israel, and Taiwan. It’s possible that the Commission will decide to hold off on approval to open an in-depth investigation, but this is believed to be unlikely.

Google has promised that the massive trove of patents it would acquire from the Motorola deal would be licensed on fair and reasonable terms. It has placed a cap on the fees it would charge at 2.25 percent of the net selling price of each infringing device and has also outlined the conditions under which it would launch patent suits against infringing companies.

[via Reuters]

The merger was first announced last August as a move to help defend Android in the patent war. Competitors such as Microsoft and Apple have been attacking Android OEMs with patent suits related to technologies used in the open-source Android platform. The merger would secure Motorola’s massive patent portfolio, giving Google more leverage.

However, the purchase has concerned Google’s Android partners as it could give Motorola an unfair advantage over other device makers. Google chairman Eric Schmidt had also expressed that the company wanted more control over hardware as part of the Motorola deal.

[via Reuters]

Earlier today, there were reports that the deal was souring as AT&T could not negotiate selling off enough assets to make the deal more agreeable to the opposition. And now the merger is confirmed dead with the below statement from AT&T:

“The actions by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice to block this transaction do not change the realities of the U.S. wireless industry. It is one of the most fiercely competitive industries in the world, with a mounting need for more spectrum that has not diminished and must be addressed immediately. The AT&T and T-Mobile USA combination would have offered an interim solution to this spectrum shortage. In the absence of such steps, customers will be harmed and needed investment will be stifled.”

With the merger falling through, AT&T will have to pay the $4 billion breakup fee, which it has already set aside. The amount has also already been charged to the carriers fourth quarter, reflecting the $3 billion in cash and the $1 billion book value of spectrum that it owes.

[via WSJ]

AT&T’s been struggling to push through its proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile since March of this year. But the company was sued by the DOJ in August and later hit with a request for a administrative hearing by the FCC. This culminated in AT&T withdrawing its FCC application on the basis that it needed to focus on completing the DOJ lawsuit. The quick completion of the case was essential to move the merger forward.

But now, Wayland reveals that the DOJ could either postpone or completely withdraw its case since AT&T has withdrawn its FCC filing. He says that the DOJ case is really only needed if and when the FCC is approached again by AT&T seeking approval of the merger. This delay could put more pressure on T-Mobile to call off the deal, which would require AT&T to pay a $4 billion breakup fee.

[via WSJ]

As AT&T’s planned $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA faces rising opposition from the FCC, which has stated that the merger would lead to significant job loss, negligible cost savings passed on to consumers, overestimated efficiences, and that the lack of evidence that AT&T couldn’t provide more than 80% LTE coverage without the merger. Well then, the FCC doesn’t sound like they’re much of a fan of any kind of contact between the AT&T and T-Mobile USA.

The potential panacea to all problems telecom? According to WSJ, a joint venture between the two companies could help solve some of the wireless-capacity impediments both companies are expected to face in the oncoming years while also being to avoid the industry competitive issues brought up by the Justice Department. Analysts have also suggested that two companies could jointly use the T-Mobile spectrum that AT&T have had their eyes on while Deutsche Telekom retains its T-Mobile customers.

[via Wall Street Journal]

The FCC findings include the assessments that the merger would lead to significant job loss, the cost savings would unlikely be passed on to consumers, the efficiencies attainable by the merger have been overestimated, and that there lacks evidence that AT&T can’t provide more than 80% LTE coverage without the merger.

A report of the findings will be sent in full to the Department of Justice to aid in their lawsuit against AT&T. The trial date is scheduled for February 13, with a hearing set for November 30, when it’s speculated that AT&T may propose selling greater portions of T-Mobile’s assets in order to close the deal.

[via TmoNews]

According to CNET AT&T was in talks as of last night with Leap Wireless to sell some of the assets gained if the T-Mobile merger goes through to the smaller carrier. The asset that is being talked about in the deal with Leap is reportedly wireless spectrum that T-Mobile owns. The part of the spectrum that AT&T wants is the bands that are needed for networking.

Leap Wireless is sold in the pre-paid market under the Cricket Wireless brand. This would be a very good thing for Cricket Wireless since the deal would give the company more spectrum and access to more areas. The service is cheap and has some decent devices. I have to wonder if the AT&T deal falls through if T-Mobile will seek another carrier to buy its assets since it is ready to close up shop.

[via CNET]

According to the source, AT&T is offering to divest a much larger portion of assets than it had initially expected. That amount could be as much as 40 percent of T-Mobile USA’s assets. The move would be to address the concerns of the Department of Justice (DOJ), which had sued to block the merger back in August. AT&T insisted that withdrawing its FCC application for the deal was so that it could focus on addressing the DOJ lawsuit first.

The proposal to sell a larger portion of assets could be presented as soon as November 30, during the next hearing with the DOJ. AT&T could end up paying less than the original $39 billion offer should regulators agree to asset sales greater than 20 percent of that number or about $7.8 billion. Otherwise, AT&T may have to duke it out in a full court battle, of which the first trial date is scheduled for February 13.

[via Bloomberg]

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is requesting an administrative hearing to discuss the acquisition, a move that will certainly add more complexity to the deal. It would also extend the time needed to make a decision and hinder AT&T’s efforts to expedite the process. The antitrust lawsuit from the Justice Department has already set back the deal to mid-2012 with the first trial set in February of next year.

With the addition of the FCC administrative hearing, it could mean a further delay. It’s rare for the agency to make such a request and the last time it did was in 2002 for the proposed merger of EchoStar and DirecTV, which resulted in the companies pulling out of the deal.

[via IntoMobile]

The offer was accepted at the time by the Motorola board, but it still had to be approved by the various government regulators and by the shareholders. Google and Motorola are one-step closer to the buyout being complete with the shareholders for Motorola Mobility approving the merger with Google. Motorola says that its shareholders voted overwhelmingly to the tune of 99% of those at the special session agreeing to accept the merger deal.

Those that were at the special voting meeting represented 74% of all outstanding shares of Motorola stock. Motorola and Google expect the deal to close by the end of 2011 or early in 2012. The expectation is for early 2012. There are still other closing conditions that must be met for the merger to finalize, so it could take longer than expected.

Kobo’s founding company, Canadian-based Indigo Books & Music, which owns 58 percent, will receive $140 to $150 million from the deal, while Rakuten will receive 100 percent of all issued and outstanding shares of Kobo. This will bring Rakuten a line of e-readers, tablets, software, and a 5.6 million user base spread over more than 100 countries.

Rakuten claims to be one of the world’s top three e-commerce companies by revenue and will be adding 50 million potential Kobo customers from around the world. Kobo will become a wholly owned subsidiary that will continue to operate as a standalone company under CEO Michael Serbinis in Toronto.

Kobo recently introduced the new 7-inch Kobo Vox Android-based e-reader that competes with Amazon’s Kindle Fire with a $199.99 price tag, but allows for full access to the installed Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

[via VentureBeat]

Announced by AT&T back in March, the $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile would see the fourth-largest carrier in the US get gobbled up and the two main GSM-based networks combine into one, a move that many believe would be anti-competitive. However, only one of the two majof CDMA-based carriers have shown strong opposition to the deal and has taken legal action of its own.

Federal regulators and various interest groups have been very vocal against the deal. Back in August, even the Department of Justice, along with seven states, filed an anti-trust complaint, seeking to block the merger. That trial is set to take place on February 13 of next year. AT&T’s confidence in a quick close may be dwindling as it filed with the Securities Exchange Commission today the more extended schedule.

[via AP]

The second request for information doesn’t mean that the DOJ will necessarily oppose the deal, although it does suggest that additional concerns have arisen that could potentially be serious enough to block the merger. The acquisition will certainly be delayed now and Google may have to make some concessions to address the concerns in order to move forward.

“This is pretty routine; we’ve gotten these kind of requests before,” insisted Woodside. “While this means we won’t be closing right away, we’re confident that the DOJ will conclude that the rapidly growing mobile ecosystem will remain highly competitive after this deal closes.”

Google’s initial argument for its purchase of Motorola Mobility focused on protecting the Android platform by securing the phone manufacturer’s massive patent portfolio. The company insisted that Motorola would run as a separate entity and that it would not receive any special treatment to maintain a competitive environment for other Android manufacturers. However, recent rumors along with Google chairman Eric Schmidt’s own comment about Google’s interest in Motorola’s hardware have raised new concerns.

Continued success of rivals in targeting Android partners in patent battles, with the most recent being Microsoft’s deal with Samsung, announced this morning, also weaken Google’s purchase of Motorola as a defensive measure. Commitment to Android may wane as phone manufacturers become increasingly concerned with the Google-Motorola deal becoming anti-competitive, which may encourage them to form new ties with Microsoft for more Windows Phone 7 collaboration.

The DOJ had filed the lawsuit back in August, claiming that the merger would make AT&T too large and would reduce competition. A hearing was scheduled for today for both sides to discuss settlement prospects, but those discussions didn’t happen. Instead, AT&T is not seeking to dismiss the government’s lawsuit and is instead seeking to got to trial as soon as possible.

“We’re seeking a prompt trial because we’re very interested in closing this transaction,” said AT&T lawyser Mark Hansen. “We need to have the cloud of uncertainty removed. We’re already a month beyond where we want to be.”

The date selected is a compromise between the expedited request from AT&T and the more extended request by the DOJ, which was for a month later than the February date.

[via BusinessWeek]

The DOJ filed an amended legal complaint in a Washington D.C. federal court today, indicating that the state attorneys general from California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington have now signed up for the case.

“We have had an excellent working relationship with a number of state attorneys general and they have provided invaluable assistance throughout our investigation,” said the DOJ in a written statement. “We are pleased that these states have joined the department in its lawsuit.”

In response, AT&T has issued a statement saying that it’s not unusual for states to participate in reviewing mergers or court filings, and emphasized that 11 state attorneys general and hundreds of other local, state and federal officials publicly support the merger. The carrier has been seeking to expedite the court proceedings, aiming to resolve matters through a settlement with the DOJ.

[via WSJ]

Plans to purchase T-Mobile were first announced back in March, and since then AT&T has been struggling to fight antitrust concerns and to prove to the FCC why the acquisition is necessary. The Now Network carrier, the third largest in the country, has been most adamant in opposing the merger, which has also seen plenty of opposition from fear that the merger would cut jobs and hike rate plans.

Despite all this, AT&T seemed confident in moving forward with the acquisition and was surprised by the DOJ’s sudden move to file an antitrust suit against the deal, which claimed that the merger would “remove a significant competitive force from the market.” The DOJ filing was made on August 31.

AT&T and Deutsche Telekom, the parent company of T-Mobile USA, along with the DOJ will have to file a joint plan by September 16 on scheduling and managing the case, which will be heard on September 21. The three parties have been ordered by the judge to “discuss the prospects for settlement.”

[via NY Times]

Apparently even if the regulators fail to approve the deal or if the deal takes too long or concessions valued at more than $7.8 billion are required for the deal to go through AT&T may still have to pay T-Mobile a lofty fee. That fee is said to be $3 billion in cash along with the giveaway wireless spectrum not needed for LTE rollout, and AT&T would be forced to enter into a roaming agreement with T-Mobile USA.

The roaming agreement is said to be subject to terms agreeable to both companies. That means T-Mobile would pay for the roaming. Right now it still looks like the merger may not happen, but the door is open for negotiations with both AT&T and T-Mobile with the DoJ. Regulators felt that the deal as it is now would harm the market and likely cause increased prices.

[via PCMag]

Reuters reports that there are outs for AT&T that would prevent the $6 billion payout if the deal fails depending on certain conditions being met according to sources familiar with the contract. One of the conditions is that the deal would have to fail to meet approval within a certain time period. If the deal doesn’t get approval, in whatever the unspecified period is, AT&T doesn’t have to pay.

Another way for AT&T to get out of the huge payment for the break up would be for the value of T-Mobile to decline. If the value of T-Mobile declines to a certain point due to assets that the US government might force AT&T to sell. AT&T is expected to submit a proposal to regulators soon in hopes of keeping the deal alive.

[via Reuters]

AT&T has a plan to try to save its proposed merger. AT&T is gearing up to fight for the merger in court and the company is ready to make concessions to get the deal to go through. Undoubtedly one of the things pressing AT&T to fight so hard is the roughly $6 billion it will owe T-Mobile if the deal falls through.

Naturally, AT&T isn’t offering up details on how exactly it plans to fight for the merger, but there have been some educated guesses made. The concessions are expected to be a pledge to keep the existing and lower cost subscription plans that T-Mobile has currently. AT&T may also have to sell off some assets and may have to shed as much as 25% of T-Mobile assets as well. The problem is the sale of national assets would likely lead to anti-trust issues for the two other major national carriers making a sale difficult.

[via Reuters]

Arbitration cases are being filed instead of class-action lawsuits due to the result of the AT&T vs. Concepcion case last November, in which the Supreme Court sided with AT&T allowing their phone contracts to contain a mandatory arbitration clause that waived customers’ rights to class-action lawsuits against the company. Hence, Bursor & Fisher began encouraging customers opposing the merger to individually file arbitration complaints, hoping to file thousands of such complaints.

AT&T has already said that the claims are without merit and that an arbitrator does not have the authority to block a merger or affect the process and now it’s suing the law firm for its abusive actions. The carrier says that these individual claims are an attempt to act as a class and that their arbitration agreement prohibits any form of class-wide relief.

However, Bursor & Fisher partner Scott Bursor insists that the American Arbitration Association has already overruled AT&T’s objections and moved forward with the arbitration process.

[via Reuters]

The leaked letter revealed that AT&T plans to cover 80 percent of the country with its LTE network, and that the addition of another 17 percent to cover 55 million more Americans would carry a price tag of $3.8 billion. And hence, unless the carrier can find a more cost-effective solution, it could only justify LTE deployment to 80 percent of the US population.

“AT&T senior management concluded that, unless AT&T could find a way to expand its LTE footprint on a significantly more cost-effective basis, an LTE deployment to 80 percent of the U.S. population was the most that could be justified,” said AT&T counsel Richard Rosen in the letter.

The company said its merger with T-Mobile would spread the cost of the LTE expansion over a larger revenue base, allowing it to “better absorb the increased capital investment and lower returns associated with deploying LTE to over 97 percent of the U.S. population.”

This seems contradictory because purchasing T-Mobile to add that extra 17 percent would cost 10 times more than if they simply built out their network without the merger. Even if it is to spread out costs with the additional customer base from T-Mobile, it seems unlikely that the T-Mobile acquisition would bring in over 10 times more customers.

However, AT&T has been doing damage control since the leak and argues that it’s a spectrum issue. But rival Sprint has shown in the past that AT&T could work things out with its existing spectrum. AT&T has released the following statement:

“There is no real news here,” said AT&T spokeswoman Margaret Boles in a statement provided to Wireless Week. “The confidential information in the latest letter is fully consistent with AT&T’s prior filings. It demonstrates the significance of our commitment to build out 4G LTE mobile broadband to 97% of the population following our merger with T-Mobile. Without this merger, AT&T could not make this expanded commitment. This merger will unleash billions of dollars in badly needed investment, creating many thousands of well-paying jobs that are vitally needed given our weakened economy.”

[via TMoNews]