Hello! And welcome to our Friday column, Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWireless.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We hope you enjoy it!
And without further ado:
Wow! The back and forth between AT&T and Sprint Nextel over the past week would be hilarious if not for it being just so sad. I know the topic they are having this tiff over is an important issue, but the way it’s being played out in the public space makes a day in junior high school look grown up.
Did I mention how much I am enjoying it?
You see, I missed out on a lot of the good times in junior high school as my “activities” (posing my “Star Wars” figures in actual scenes from the movies) took up valuable time that I now realize could have much better been spent hanging out on the school yard participating in the subtleties of petty bickering. So, to be able to witness this in my adult-ness is pretty sweet.
This of course all began when AT&T shocked the world by announcing plans to acquire T-Mobile USA for $39 billion, a deal that would combine the country’s No. 2 and No. 4 carrier into a new No. 1 “super carrier.” The shock of this announcement left most at the soon-to-follow CTIA event unprepared in how to respond to the news, with most coming out with either a no comment or just putting their fingers in their ears, closing their eyes and screaming “I am not listening to you!” Both commendable reactions and something as a junior high schooler I would also have done.
Since then Sprint Nextel, which itself was rumored to be in talks with T-Mobile USA about some sort of hook up or play date on its own, has taken a leadership position in objecting to this transaction, touting the harm it will do to the mobile market, how it will cause prices to skyrocket and innovation to plummet and how it will also create a second sun that will inevitably doom all existence on earth. (This last objection might not be wholly accurate.)
AT&T took the opportunity amongst this to release a statement of its own calling into question some of the comments made by Sprint Nextel and more specifically its CEO Dan Hesse, and how those comments may not be consistent with previous statement made by Mr. Hesse. (I believe the inconsistency had something to do with Hesse at one time saying pizza was the best food ever, and then another time making the same claim about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.)
This questioning of Hesse’s character so enraged Sprint Nextel that the carrier threw together a hastily organized conference call (so hastily in fact that they could not even take questions about what they wanted to say) in which they said to AT&T: “I know you are, but what am I?” Followed by: “You’re rubber, I am glue. Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you.” Really compelling stuff.
Seeing how effective this was, Sprint Nextel then hosted another less hastily thrown together conference call that was designed to “educate” those of us in the media as to why it was opposed to the deal, why the deal will harm puppies and what AT&T said about T-Mobile USA behind it’s back at last week’s school dance. Though it was also all off the record so none of what was said can ever ethically be repeated. As a matter of fact, forget that I even mentioned it. Prank caller! Prank caller!
(Side note to Sprint Nextel: I am not telling you how to do your business here, but having conference calls that forbid the asking of questions, which makes them more of a diatribe, or that are off the record really don’t provide much usefulness. If this topic is so important to the health and well being of the industry, why not be more open about it? While it’s fun to say things behind the backs of others, it’s sort of childish. In other words, keep it up.)
AT&T has yet to respond in a juicy, unofficial way, but has instead filed the necessary paperwork with the Federal Communications Commission on its plans to acquire T-Mobile USA, which is available through its website ambitiously entitled: mobilizeeverything.com. Those documents go into one-sided details on how the deal will help Americans by providing access to wireless data services, and more importantly contains a lot of redacted information that makes reading it nearly impossible.
While all of this has so far not been much of a surprise, the funniest part to me is how everyone speaking on behalf of those opposed or in support of this transaction are speaking from such a limited view. I can’t believe that these people really are that brainwashed by their own company’s mantra that they can’t possibly see outside of that bubble. These are smart people that follow the industry very closely and in most cases have been in the industry for a long time.
I also realize though that when they speak of this situation they need to speak about it solely from their company’s point of view so while it’s understandable when they speak without even considering the bigger picture, it still makes it nearly impossible to take anything they say seriously.
Hey, I agree that taking T-Mobile USA out of the competition pool is probably a bad thing for consumers in terms of pricing. And AT&T’s assertion that it will continue to compete against such powerhouses as MetroPCS, Leap Wireless, U.S. Cellular, Cellular South, Cincinnati Bell Wireless and Cox Communications takes us all for fools. Beyond a few markets here or there, these carriers are of no threat at all to AT&T. This leaves just Verizon Wireless and to a much lesser extent Sprint Nextel. And when you take into account the iPhone factor, it’s really just Verizon Wireless.
To AT&T’s credit this is really no different than the competitive environment today. Sure, AT&T may on occasion have to make a pricing or service adjustment to counter something done by Sprint Nextel or T-Mobile USA, but really any major reaction made in the market by AT&T is due to something done by Verizon Wireless.
But, I also realize that this merger and acquisition activity has been a hallmark to the wireless industry since its inception and don’t remember much hubbub when then No. 3 Sprint was taking out No. 5 carrier Nextel in a deal that I would assume Sprint would like to use a mulligan on. Sure, that transaction did not consolidate the industry to just two players with 80% of the market, but it still whittled down the choice pool from five nationwide operators to four. And, it also could be argued that the deal set a precedent that AT&T is now trying to take advantage of.
Again, all of this is really quite humorous and I am glad it’s being played out so publicly. And with my Star Wars figures having been lost to the hands of time so long ago, now I should be able to invest my time fully in trying to recapture some of my youth.
OK, enough of that.
Thanks for checking out this week’s Worst of the Week column. And now for some extras:
–The next application I want to talk about is an application that tells me which applications are actually worth my time. I am not talking about a service that uses consumer reviews to rank applications because I am realizing more and more that I have less and less in common with my fellow man. Not sure how this works, but that is something I would be willing to pay more than $1 for.
–Wait, what? There is an Apple product that is secretly tracking people? That seems so 1984.
–Finally: Tally Ho!
I welcome your comments. Please send me an e-mail at: dmeyer@ardenmediaco.com.
