AT&T Accidentally Tells Truth

The facts of the $39 billion dollar buyout of T-Mobile by AT&T reveal how much AT&T is willing to strangle the truth to get what they want.

An AT&T lawyer accidentally posted a letter which shows AT&T has been lying/lobbying from the get-go:

"Earlier this summer 76 House Democrats were misled by AT&T.

They signed on to a letter circulated by Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) that was so packed with AT&T talking points and spin that it’s worth wondering who really drafted the letter.

In it the 76 Democrats repeated AT&T’s argument that merging with T-Mobile is the only way that it can extend its mobile network to 97 percent of the population. They also signed on to the AT&T notion that this merger will "create thousands of jobs … which will greatly contribute to our continuing economic recovery."

But here’s the rub. Neither of these claims is true.

An AT&T lawyer recently leaked a document that revealed AT&T can accomplish its network buildout for one-tenth the cost of acquiring T-Mobile. And despite AT&T’s insistence that the deal will spur job growth, the merger will cost an estimated 20,000 Americans their jobs.

Being wrong on the facts has never stopped AT&T’s relentless drive to get Washington to bless this disastrous deal. AT&T is hitting other members of Congress with the same misinformation, and the same AT&T lobbyists who misled the “Butterfield 76” are trying to drum up additional support for the merger.

AT&T’s believes that the truth doesn't matter in a Washington where fact checking takes a distant second to check writing."

Given the way the FCC and Congress and the telecommunications industry has been working, this deal will likely get approved and the consequences will be left to someone else (mobile phone users) to handle. Nothing to see here, move along bucko.