Teh One Who Knocks
10-14-2011, 11:40 AM
By Chloe Albanesius - PC Magazine
http://i.imgur.com/mk76E.jpg
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday asked AT&T for more specific details about how its merger with T-Mobile will create jobs, as the carrier has claimed in various filings.
In response, AT&T reiterated its call to bring 5,000 call center jobs back to the U.S. and not fire any existing T-Mobile or AT&T call center employees. It also said the expansion of AT&T's network will allow for increased innovation, which will create jobs.
In the FCC letter, Rick Kaplan, chief of the agency's wireless telecom bureau, said AT&T's response on the job creation point "remains incomplete."
Specifically, Kaplan asked for documents that "analyze the size and location of AT&T's workforce both before and as anticipated after the merger."
AT&T also penned a letter to the FCC today, though the company's letter was actually in response to complaints filed by consumers groups Public Knowledge and Free Press. AT&T said it "intends to respond fully" to the FCC's letter specifically, but its Wednesday letter also addressed jobs.
"The merger will spur billions of dollars in additional investment, create thousands of jobs, and significantly narrow the digital divide while advancing the Administration's rural broadband objectives – all of which will aid the nation's economic recovery and future economic strength without the expenditure of public funds," AT&T said.
AT&T argued that the merger will create "a far more robust national wireless infrastructure," which will have "ripple effects," including the creation of platforms for innovation, which will create jobs.
It did acknowledge, however, that "some jobs serving redundant functions would be eliminated to reduce costs."
Last month, AT&T rival Sprint released a report that slammed AT&T's job creation claims. The carrier partnered with David Neumark, director of the Center for Economics and Public Policy at the University of California at Irvine, and found AT&T's promises of job creation to be "completely unfounded."
In defending the merger, AT&T has referenced a May study from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) that suggested AT&T could create between 55,000 and 96,000 jobs over the next seven years if it acquires T-Mobile. But that would only happen if AT&T follows through on a promise to invest $8 billion in its infrastructure during the same time period.
Neumark, however, said that "AT&T has actually told investors and the federal government that the merger would lead to reduced capital expenditures on net. If you take EPI's own logic and apply that net reduction in capital expenditures to the data, you predict fewer jobs, not more jobs."
That study came soon after the Department of Justice sued to block the $39 billion deal in a Washington, D.C. federal court, claiming that combining the two wireless companies will "substantially lessen competition" in the market. Ultimately, the agency wants the court to find that AT&T purchasing T-Mobile would violate U.S. antitrust laws and hand down a court order blocking the deal.
The FCC is still reviewing the merger.
Sprint has also sued to block the merger, as has Cellular South (now known as C Spire) and several state attorneys general.
On the other side, several members of Congress wrote to President Obama recently asking him to support the merger because it will lead to job creation.
For more, see On AT&T/T-Mobile Merger, Justice is Served as well as 7 Alternative Buyers for T-Mobile.
http://i.imgur.com/mk76E.jpg
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday asked AT&T for more specific details about how its merger with T-Mobile will create jobs, as the carrier has claimed in various filings.
In response, AT&T reiterated its call to bring 5,000 call center jobs back to the U.S. and not fire any existing T-Mobile or AT&T call center employees. It also said the expansion of AT&T's network will allow for increased innovation, which will create jobs.
In the FCC letter, Rick Kaplan, chief of the agency's wireless telecom bureau, said AT&T's response on the job creation point "remains incomplete."
Specifically, Kaplan asked for documents that "analyze the size and location of AT&T's workforce both before and as anticipated after the merger."
AT&T also penned a letter to the FCC today, though the company's letter was actually in response to complaints filed by consumers groups Public Knowledge and Free Press. AT&T said it "intends to respond fully" to the FCC's letter specifically, but its Wednesday letter also addressed jobs.
"The merger will spur billions of dollars in additional investment, create thousands of jobs, and significantly narrow the digital divide while advancing the Administration's rural broadband objectives – all of which will aid the nation's economic recovery and future economic strength without the expenditure of public funds," AT&T said.
AT&T argued that the merger will create "a far more robust national wireless infrastructure," which will have "ripple effects," including the creation of platforms for innovation, which will create jobs.
It did acknowledge, however, that "some jobs serving redundant functions would be eliminated to reduce costs."
Last month, AT&T rival Sprint released a report that slammed AT&T's job creation claims. The carrier partnered with David Neumark, director of the Center for Economics and Public Policy at the University of California at Irvine, and found AT&T's promises of job creation to be "completely unfounded."
In defending the merger, AT&T has referenced a May study from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) that suggested AT&T could create between 55,000 and 96,000 jobs over the next seven years if it acquires T-Mobile. But that would only happen if AT&T follows through on a promise to invest $8 billion in its infrastructure during the same time period.
Neumark, however, said that "AT&T has actually told investors and the federal government that the merger would lead to reduced capital expenditures on net. If you take EPI's own logic and apply that net reduction in capital expenditures to the data, you predict fewer jobs, not more jobs."
That study came soon after the Department of Justice sued to block the $39 billion deal in a Washington, D.C. federal court, claiming that combining the two wireless companies will "substantially lessen competition" in the market. Ultimately, the agency wants the court to find that AT&T purchasing T-Mobile would violate U.S. antitrust laws and hand down a court order blocking the deal.
The FCC is still reviewing the merger.
Sprint has also sued to block the merger, as has Cellular South (now known as C Spire) and several state attorneys general.
On the other side, several members of Congress wrote to President Obama recently asking him to support the merger because it will lead to job creation.
For more, see On AT&T/T-Mobile Merger, Justice is Served as well as 7 Alternative Buyers for T-Mobile.