Facebook, Microsoft support AT&T, T-Mobile merger
AT&T is getting the support from some very well-known friends in its bid to acquire T-Mobile.
According to DealBook, at least 10 venture capital firms have inked letters in support of the major merger and submitted them to the Federal Communications Commission.
Even bigger news is that some of the biggest names in the tech industry have stepped up to pledge its approval, including Microsoft, Research in Motion, Yahoo, Oracle, Qualcomm and Facebook, just to name a few. It's not a very surprising list when you think about it as a lot of these companies already have relationships with AT&T, in particular Microsoft (think Windows Phone 7) and RIM.
Here's a snippet of the official reasoning offered in a joint letter:
AT&T ’s acquisition of T-Mobile represents a near term means of addressing the rising consumer demand. For example, the merged company will be able to leverage a larger network of cell sites allowing greater reuse of spectrum and increasing the wireless broadband capacity of the network. Furthermore, AT&T has indicated that it will migrate the T-Mobile network to LTE technology and offer LTE-based wireless broadband to 97.3 percent of the U.S.population. AT&T has stated that its LTE deployment will bring significant benefits to residents of rural areas and smaller communities, where the benefits of real-time video and similar capabilities are most urgently needed to fill gaps in physical infrastructure for healthcare,education, and other social needs.
To get a full snapshot of that letter and a few others, just scroll below. (Just don't expect to see a supportive note from Sprint any time soon...)
Microsoft et al Letter Backing AT&T-T-Mobile Deal