Comments:AT&T to purchase T-Mobile for US$39 billion

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Great read, contains all the required infomation.

"Bigger is better in a commodity game. Four providers were too many..."

I'm definitely not an expert, so please take this question as legitimate and not rhetorical; if this quote is true, why was Bell split into so many different companies, decades ago?

It was required after a ruling of a judge. Bell was found to be a monopoly.

If then, wouldn't this merger result in a GSM monopoly for AT&T?

Shhh don't tell them that. Thats why there are regulators that are still reviewing this deal, T mobile and AT&T may have agreed but the regulators still have to approve or else the deal will not be able to continue.

I really hope this deal passes through the regulators and the FCC. As a T-Mobile customer, I can't wait to get my impatient hands on the iPhone 5. T-Mobile gets the iPhone, Apple gets 30+ million extra customers. Everybody wins! Tell this to the people in Congress.

If you wanted the iphone you should have simply joined AT&T in the first place. This is a big lose for Tmobile customers who had relatively inexpensive plans and good access to network and will now have AT&T priced plans and good access to network. The gains are few and the losses are immense. Guess I'll have to change carriers again.

We ought to mention that this will in the long term do nothing special with regards to consumers having access to LTE - both AT&T and Verizon Wireless are moving towards LTE already. T-Mobile is, and has been, in the process expanding the use of the AWS band for HSPA+ high speed already, which is not compatible with any devices from AT&T currently.

This merger will leave Sprint Nextel as the sole (large) operator without an LTE network as announced plans stand at this time, with their network being focused on WiMAX instead.

HSPA+ is not a legitimate 4G network. Neither is LTE, it's more like 3.9G. IMO, they're just a marketing term used by ad executives to convince consumers to buy their products using a lady in a pink dress. I heard that LTE Advanced may be the real 4G, but that may be 5 - 10 years off in the future.

As for Sprint, I think they may be left out in the dark unless they choose to abandon WiMax and step up their game. With an "AT&T-Mobile" union, plus Verizon, Sprint has a tough chance in staying competitive with the top 2, unless they choose to merge with MetroPCS (another CDMA network) or be eaten up by Verizon, which I seriously doubt could happen in the near future. Just a thought.