In the U.S.
NEW YORK, 31 Aug. (EUROPA PRESS) -
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has blocked the merger agreement reached between the telephone operators AT&T and T-Mobile USA, valued at 39,000 million dollars (27,000 million euros), by filing a claim in the Court of the District of Columbia, as it considers that the operation would harm competition in the US telephony market.
In its complaint, the DOJ warns that T-Mobile poses "significant competitive pressure on its three main rivals, especially on pricing issues, a key element of competition."
"AT&T's removal of T-Mobile as an independent, low-cost rival would suppress significant competitive market strength," the complaint adds.
Thus, the DOJ believes that, in the absence of changes in the merger, mobile customers "would likely face higher prices, less variety of products and innovation and poorer quality of services in the face of lower incentives to invest."
If the merger agreement between AT&T and Deutsche Telekom's U.S. subsidiary succeeds, the U.S. wireless market would be in the hands of three companies: AT&T, Verizon and the much smaller Sprint Nextel.
AT&T PLEDGES TO REPATRIATE 5,000 JOBS TO THE U.S.
For its part, the US telecommunications operator AT&T had committed to repatriate 5,000 jobs in the 'call-center' area currently outsourced outside the US once its merger process with T-Mobile USA was concluded.
Likewise, the largest U.S. telephone operator said that its merger with the U.S. subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom will not result in losses of the jobs already existing in the call centers of both companies in the country.
AT&T, which has not yet decided in which locations in the country these call centers will be located, is the largest U.S. company by total number of full-time employees.
"At a time when many U.S. citizens and the U.S. economy are struggling, we are pleased to announce that the merger with T-Mobile allows us to repatriate 5,000 jobs and significantly increase our investments here," said AT&T President and CEO Randall Stephenson.
FG_AUTHORS: PortalTIC.es / Companies
