AT&T/T-Mobile deal offers risk, reward for Obama

AT&T's controversial $39 billion bid for T-Mobile officially got under way, crystallizing a big risk and possibly a big opportunity for President Barack Obama.

The risk: allowing a deal that could, in time, leave Americans with just two choices for cellphone providers. The potential opportunity: extending high-speed wireless to virtually the entire country, which AT&T has promised if the deal goes through. The political implications don't end there: Blocking the acquisition would mean alienating a stalwart member of the business community. Approving it, critics warn, could lead to steep layoffs as the two phone companies merge overlapping operations. Those tensions lie at the heart of what's shaping up as one of Washington's fiercest regulatory and lobbying battles in recent memory. On one side is AT&T, stocked with a battalion of lobbyists and prepared to spend probably tens of millions of dollars to cinch Justice Department and FCC approval. On the other side is Sprint and a collection of public interest groups that say the deal would allow a quasi-duopoly in the wireless market — AT&T and Verizon would control about 80 percent of the market — leaving consumers holding the bag with higher prices for poorer service.