The following is attributed to Gigi B.
Sohn, president and CEO of Public Knowledge:
“It was truly unfortunate that a top
AT&T official blamed some layoffs at T-Mobile on the government’s blocking
of AT&T’s takeover of its competitor.
T-Mobile started losing customers and distributors when the takeover
started. Their ads and marketing were frozen as the deal dragged on, and
customers left. Now they face getting those customers back and investing
in their network.
“It’s also worth noting that had AT&T
won, perhaps ten times as many jobs would have been lost than 1,900 announced
today, as AT&T’s history of layoffs after transactions has shown. If AT&T cared about job loss, they could
start replacing many of the tens of thousands of jobs they have eliminated over
the last few years.”
Public Knowledge is a Washington D.C.- based public interest
group working to defend consumer rights in the emerging digital culture. More information is available at http://www.publicknowledge.org