Posted by: Jim Cicconi on June 1, 2011 at 5:34 pm
While we were all getting some needed sleep last night, filings in support of our merger with T-Mobile continued to flood the FCC. The broad array of groups and elected officials who recognize the benefits of this transaction is clearly growing. Here’s just a sampling of the latest…
Highlighting what this merger will do to expand high-speed wireless broadband throughout the country, the 1.5 million member American Federation of Teachers has filed at the FCC. This means that unions comprising 16.5 million American workers have now endorsed our merger.
Also, a group of 80 companies that employ thousands of workers in the fields of IT, software development, network infrastructure, manufacturing, construction and engineering encouraged prompt approval of our merger. Citing the need to maintain a healthy communications market, the companies, including Avaya, Convergys, Fujitsu, and Research in Motion, recognize that the T-Mobile transaction will encourage private investment and will spur innovation.
Another group of 56 companies also filed in support of our merger. These small and mid-sized companies, which are owned by minority, women, and disabled veteran entrepreneurs, see the extraordinary benefits that expanding wireless broadband will bring to the traditionally depressed communities where these companies provide jobs, job training and education services.
And important groups representing the interests of our country’s ever-growing senior population, such as the OASIS institute, see this merger as improving the lives of older adults, especially the many living in rural areas, by providing access to life-changing advanced technologies, such as those that enable the self-monitoring of their health.
I would be remiss not to also flag that supportive filings came in last night from groups like LULAC, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation-Black Women’s Roundtable and the National Council for Negro Women, and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC).
And support from our nation’s governors continues to grow as well. Gov. Bill Haslam of Tennessee and Gov. Bev Perdue of North Carolina both filed at the FCC, bringing the total number of governors supporting our transaction to 15. This is impressive, and it’s hard to recall any precedent for it. Given the FCC’s task is to determine whether our transaction serves the public interest, it’s significant when 15 governors weigh in saying the merger is important for the citizens of their states.
So, there you have it. The voices supporting the merger are strong, they are from all walks of life, and they show no signs of slowing down.
