“Governments should discourage mergers in the communication industry.”
Our group will be disagreeing with this statement through out the project. We will be using texts and examples in order to support our ideas. Also we will be using reasoning and common sense in some cases.
Our group believes the most important mergers in the communication industry are the telecommunication companies’. Bell Atlantic and GTE are the two big mergers in the industry and are a good example for our case. This merge has brought benefits to workers, consumers and communities.
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) represents 630,000 workers who are also consumers of telecommunications services. The majority of CWA members are employed in the telecommunications industry, including 72,000 employees at Bell Atlantic and 25,000 employees at GTE. CWA is the leading union in the information age whose members are responsible for building, maintaining, and servicing customers on the information highway. CWA seeks to ensure that the new information world brings benefits to all consumers, workers, and communities.
CWA urges the Commission to approve the Bell Atlantic and GTE merger because it will benefit both consumers and workers. CWA believes the merger is in the public interest for five reasons. First, it advances the pro-competitive goals of the 1996 Telecommunications Act (“the 1996 Act”) in local exchange markets for all consumer markets. Bell Atlantic and GTE have committed to enter 21 markets out-of-region within 18 months after the merger. Second, the proposed merger advances the 1996 Act’s goal to speed deployment of advanced telecommunications networks to all Americans. The merger will provide Bell Atlantic and GTE with the scale and scope necessary to accelerate in-region and out-of-region investment in advanced data networks. Third, the merger is consistent with the 1996 Act’s goal to advance and to preserve affordable, quality service to all Americans. Fourth, the merger will stimulate the growth of high-quality new jobs as a result of the new investment that the merged company will create in entering new markets as well as in deploying new technologies and services. Finally, the merger will enhance competition in the wireless and international markets.
Appendices:
www.economist.com/display/Story.ctm?Story_ID=169850
http://nic.cpuc.ca.gov/news/2000/000302_gte_bellalt_merger.htm
www.ncs.gov/n5_hp/Customer_Service/XAffairs/NewService/2000-058.htm
www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2588453,00.html
