Editorial: Thoughts on AT&T pulling out and what it could mean

We have all heard by now that AT&T has pulled out of the merger deal that would have lead to the overtaking of T-Mobile. Now that it’s over what does this mean for us as consumers? Since AT&T has to give us $3 billion in cash, which is most likely going to be kept by Deutsche Telekom, and one billion in spectrum that we now know is the 1900mhz band, we should be in pretty good standing right? Well we are, and we aren’t. We still have to see who else will buy T-Mobile, since it is clear that Deutsche Telekom wants to leave the US markets in order to maintain its own markets back in Europe.

What I feel on this whole deal is relief and uncertainty, because T-Mobile could still get bought and completely changed, making plans more expensive. Everything could be re-branded and re-badged, and the company would be stuck looking like it is MetroPCS or Criket. Although that’s not a terrible thing, people wouldn’t see the company in that high regard anymore. There is another issue of the company being publicly traded and ripped apart as if they were being eaten by a pack of hungry lions. T-Mobile still isn’t safe, and we still should be weary but shouldn’t leave.

Those are just the worst things that could happen. What is most likely to happen is that T-Mobile will be left alone for a year or two before someone just takes over, but in the aspect of being a parent company and not actually change anything. We just need to hope for the best, stick with T-Mobile, and not “abandon ship”. T-Mobile still has a great offering of phones, cheap plans, great customer service, and a good network.