A Big Deal's Winners, Losers

U.S. regulators will be eyeing the AT&T-T-Mobile deal closely for conflicts that could lead to higher prices for small business. But as with any giant telecom deal, the story is more complex than higher or lower prices.

Tim Savageaux, president of Terrapin Research, talks here about the winners and losers in the $39-billion deal that will create the nation’s largest wireless carrier.

Among the winners, he sees AT&T and Deutsche Telekom, owner of T-Mobile.

Alcatel-Lucent is another big winner in the deal, since AT&T will base its argument for merger approval upon its plans to expand its network, and as an equipment supplier, that will mean billions of dollars in business for Alcatel-Lucent.

Then there’s the company that just seems to win no matter what happens—Apple, which will gain access to still more customers.

Still to be decided, though, is whether customers really win from less competition in the wireless marketplace. Is better service a worthwhile tradeoff for the potential of ceding more pricing power to AT&T?

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