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| Editorial: I'm Getting Sick as AT&T Lies Again |
| Written by Dave Burstein |
| Saturday, 30 July 2011 17:38 |
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I urge Randall, Ralph or Jim to remind their people staying reasonably close to the truth is company policy. It's getting absurd.
"We're going to be able to bring 4G . . . to 750,000 more residents of West Virginia than we would otherwise," said Mike Schweder, president of AT&T's Mid-Atlantic region, if allowed to buy T-Mobile. That almost certainly isn't true, and no reporter should print claims like that without checking with an independent source. What AT&T has said, I believe truthfully, is that they will build to 80% of the country in 2013, "which is as fast as we possibly can" according to CEO Randall Stephenson. If the T-Mobile deals closes, they will build to 97% by around 2017. The 750,000 is the difference between the two figures. It's nonsense unless AT&T intends to totally freeze the network in 2013, prohibitively unlikely.
 It's almost certain that AT&T would reach most or all of those 750,000 even without the T-Mobile deal. Otherwise, AT&T's President Ralph de la Vega was lying when he recently said says AT&T will match Verizon's LTE network, which is going to 97-99% of the country. I've known Ralph for more than a decade; he's one of the two dozen or so people I listen to at every opportunity, because I learn so much from him. I believe he's never lied to me in public or private. It's highly likely the West Virginia guy was the liar, not Ralph, because it's ridiculous to think AT&T would eliminate wireless upgrades in 2014. Verizon and even Sprint would kill them. (I have insight into Sprint's coming network. It will be good, looking very much like Verizon's and AT&T.) It would be incredibly stupid not to upgrade 90-97% of AT&T's network to LTE over time. Randall Stephenson and Ralph de la Vega are not stupid.
Similarly, "the additional spectrum from the T-Mobile acquisition would allow AT&T's LTE network to cover more than 97 percent of the U.S. population, Alabama president Fred McCallum Jr. said. That's 55 million more customers than the carrier would be able to cover without the extra spectrum." Tuscaloosa News That's absurd. AT&T has more than enough spectrum in rural areas, by definition less densely populated. In fact, 40-80+% of AT&T's spectrum in rural areas is not used even in peak times. Additional spectrum from T-Mobile will do nothing for AT&T in most of the last 20% of the country.
Imagine if AT&T stopped their 4G network after 2013 at 80%. Verizon is on target to be at 92% for 2013 and planning "all the country" by 2016-2017. The last few years have demonstrated that customers want wide coverage, evidenced by the desperate response of AT&T to Verizon's TV commercial comparing 3G maps. Many of the customers for the expected hihg-volume M2M market need complete coverage of their marketing area, which often means much of the country. T would be further handicapped in the crucial national accounts. Dozens of executives at both companies have emphasized how important it is to have the widest possible coverage.
Both T & VZ today have towers covering somewhere in the high 90% range. LTE, experience at Verizon and elsewhere has shown, is much more efficient and cheaper to operate. So it's logical to expect AT&T to upgrade the radios nearly all of the towers within 7 years after the LTE build began in 2010.
If AT&T is lying so often about this merger, the FCC should demand independent verification of all questionable claims in the filing. There are many, and I'm sure many are untrue. But I can't prove it, because the public filing is [redacted] where most of the facts are presented.
A Big Lie is a falsehood so colossal that no one would believe that someone could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously..
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