AT&T’s retreat from T-Mobile deal is a chance to make wireless future brighter

[Commentary] AT&T’s proposed purchase of T-Mobile would have made AT&T the largest carrier in America, and it would have also arguably created a duopoly where AT&T/T-Mobile’s only true competitor would have been Verizon. That kind of arrangement is usually bad for consumers, and it’s definitely bad for other companies, such as Sprint, which are in the same market and trying to keep a hold of their customers. But something weird happened on the way to the bank for AT&T — regular people, journalists and policymakers started speaking out about the merger and, in the end, it was killed.

A few months ago, I suggested that instead of battling over coverage areas, perhaps carriers should start thinking about ways they could work together to serve their customers better. At the time, I suggested that perhaps government intervention was required to cook up a long-term plan for wireless build-out and to ensure that all of the parties played nicely. But maybe it’s easier than that. I think we need real options to make our wireless future brighter — and I think it’s important that the carriers commit to making it happen. Better wireless in this country doesn’t just mean you can watch an episode of “Glee” whenever you want (not that that isn’t a big perk). A sophisticated wireless network in this country is imperative for businesses, schools and, yes, regular human beings. It’s time for our service providers to start taking responsibility for their industry. Last time I checked, AT&T and Verizon weren’t operating at a loss. In fact, they’re both running highly profitable businesses. If they’re really worried about spectrum constraints and bad user experiences, they should put down the swords for a moment and start working together to fix the problems.