Granddaddy always said that ‘figures often lie – but liars always figure’. This week AT&T provided two prime examples of that homespun East Texas homily.
Case One
If you carry an AT&T iPhone or iPad, you’ve had to ACCEPT pages of itsy-teenie legalese designed to enslave you for two years. It’s AT&T’s way of ensnaring you in a trap in which you agree to a whole bunch of stuff, none of which benefits you. One of those gottchas is requiring you to use arbitration instead of other legal remedies like suing AT&T. AT&T likes that because large companies can avoid pesky and expensive class-action lawsuits.
When you’re a company like AT&T, known for dropped calls, oversold networks, and questionable business practices – avoiding class-action lawsuits is important.
Maybe that’s why AT&T’s intense efforts to negate consumer demands for arbitration as a means to block AT&T’s pending purchase of T-Mobile USA tracks as slimy. AT&T seeks to avoid consumer demands for their own mandated arbitration because the legal cause seeks damages and injunction to block the merger.
Rather than man-up and accept the same remedies it demands of customers – AT&T wants special treatment by the court. Remember that before you sign your next AT&T contract.
Case Two
AT&T corporate and marketing dweebs never miss an opportunity to remind us that only with the acquisition of T-Mobile USA for just shy of $40 billion dollars – can they provide reliable, legit 4G/LTE coverage from sea-to-shining sea.
But wait – this week AT&T accidentally posted an exhibit online that indicated they could accomplish the same thing by simply writing a $3.9 billion check for targeted spectrum purchases in select markets.
Check the math and logic – accomplish the same objective for one-tenth the cost – and much less on-going overhead. What are we missing? The truth.
AT&T’s strategy isn’t about developing a large, state-of-the-art network to serve growing legions of customers. It’s about blocking other carriers from ever having access to that spectrum. Their move is a pre-emptive spectrum grab that reeks of anti-competitive greed. Why else would a cash-strapped company like AT&T over-pay by a factor of ten when the same results can be accomplished in more fiscally responsible fashion?
AT&T claims that the accidentally-posted letter dovetails with their earlier pronouncements. What else can they say?
Clearly AT&T is running roughshod over the truth, consumers, and the regulatory process – including the impotent stewards of the public airwaves at the FCC. Is there light at the end of the tunnel. Will consumer voices have standing against corporate titans?
AT&T has already ceded almost half a million dollars to fuel the political aspirations and allegiances of Gov. Rick Perry. You decide.