1:32pm | Wireless data traffic on the AT&T network is reported to have grown more than 5,000 percent from 2007 through 2009, largely due to the increasing popularity of smartphones. Currently, AT&T is in the process of merging with T-Mobile and according to AT&T the merger will provide greater opportunities to meet growing customer demands throughout Southern California and in Long Beach.
“Mobile data traffic exploded and as a service provider, we are working around the clock to meet those needs,” AT&T California Executive Lane Kasselman told the Long Beach Post. “For Long Beach, the AT&T and T-Mobile merger would mean better voice quality, fewer dropped calls and faster data speeds in the area.”
By acquiring the infrastructure of T-Mobile USA, AT&T would almost double the number of cell sites serving customers in the Long Beach area, said Kasselman.
According to a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute, AT&T’s $8 billion merger investment in wireless infrastructure nationwide would create between 8,000 and 14,000 jobs in California alone over the next seven years.
In Long Beach, significant cell phone provider competition would remain with various wireless carriers like Verizon, Sprint and MetroPCS all having a significant market presence in addition to AT&T and T-Mobile.
“AT&T and T-Mobile customers could keep their current pricing, plans and phones, and competition among local carries in Long Beach would remain incredibly robust,” said Kasselman. “This merger is a win win for local consumers, for jobs and the economy and for our nation as a whole – and we hope federal and state governments move to approve it.”
AT&T and the U.S. Department of Justice will be in court on February 13, when oral arguments are scheduled to begin in a legal case on the merger. Opponents of the deal, like AT&T competitor Sprint, argue that combining these two companies will hurt competition and increase prices.
Speaking about the merger at an investor conference on Wednesday Lowell McAdam, chief executive of competitor Verizon Communications Inc., said “that match had to occur” and noted that if the federal government chooses to block such mergers, it must come up with a plan for providing the industry the spectrum it needs to meet consumer demand.