Anyone holding off on renewing their 4G Android phone contract with T-Mobile can probably renew without worry. Rumors that the company was on the verge of merging with AT&T were both confirmed and cast into question at the same when on Wednesday the Justice Department announced they would be suing AT&T in an effort to block the merger. The DOJ’s reasoning for the block is the fact that the result would be an uncompetitive situation in the mobile service market. If the planned merger were successful, then nearly half of the American population would be underneath an AT&T contract.
The Justice Department is not the only government entity casting doubt on the legalities of the potential merger. The FCC, which has been reviewing the merger plan, has also spoken out against it as an inhibitor of free market competition. But further criticism comes from obvious sources: additional mobile service providers. Sprint has protested the merger for sometime, and in a recent release has said they approve of the Justice Department’s decision to file suit against AT&T.
AT&T claims that the merger is the only way the company can build their 4G network. Without it they say they will be unable to compete against the 4G network capabilities of Verizon Wireless. But the DOJ investigation that preceded the suit concluded that there were indeed other options AT&T could take to implement a state-of-the-art 4G network. One such option was for the company to simply pay for the 4G network out of their own pocket.
The merger may still happen, since AT&T could simply settle as soon as possible with the Justice Department. But it’s looking less likely that it will happen the way AT&T wants it to. The race to acquire nearly half of all U.S. mobile subscriptions wasn’t going to be easy. If AT&T is headed by smart enough people, then they knew that was the case months ago.
So as far as that T-Mobile contract renewal goes…why not? The worst case scenario is that you avoid cancellation fees, and the best possible scenario is that the iPhone is finally put within your reach. As far as mobile services goes that sounds like best of all possibilities.