Stop AT&T's lies

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Seventy-six Democratic members of Congress wrote a letter publicly supporting AT&T's plans to merge with T-Mobile. The problem? The argument they relied on has been proven bogus by AT&T's own words.

With their stated rationale for backing the merger eliminated, these members of Congress have no reason to continue supporting the merger. Please demand that they publicly renounce their support for the merger.

 

Below is the message we'll send to signers of Rep. Butterfield's letter on your behalf:

Dear Congressman / Congresswoman,

I'm calling on you to publicly rescind your support for AT&T's proposed merger with T-Mobile due to a stunning new letter from AT&T that reveals that the corporation misled Congress, regulators, and the public when it claimed that merging with T-Mobile was necessary in order for it to extend its 4G LTE service to 97% of American households.

The letter, which was incompletely redacted when initially filed with the FCC, reveals that AT&T chose not to spend $3.8 billion to cover 97% of Americans. Shortly thereafter, the company spent $39 billion - ten times that amount - to acquire T-Mobile. It seems clear that the acquisition with T-Mobile is not, nor has it ever been, a necessary precondition for nationwide 4G coverage.

The merger's harms would be likely far-reaching. If historical trends hold true, tens of thousands of jobs would be lost as parts of T-Mobile's US workforce is laid off. The elimination of a cheaper competitor from the national wireless market would reduce competitive pressures on prices,likely leading to higher mobile bills for consumers. The pain of higher prices would be most felt by poor folks and people of color who overwhelmingly rely on mobile broadband for their Internet access.

The merger would also damage Internet freedom. Without competition from other wireless carriers or effective regulation by the FCC, AT&T and Verizon — net neutrality opponents who would together control nearly 80% of the wireless market — would have great control over the content, applications and devices through which we access the mobile web.

These outcomes are unacceptable. I thus call on you to publicly renounce your support for AT&T's proposed takeover of T-Mobile.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

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