Opinion

Cellular competition dwindling

By Matthew Bean

Shhh ... if you listen carefully, you can hear the muffled screams of your freedom of choice suffocating under the weight of media and communication conglomerates.

Who controls the radio? Clear Channel, of course. According to its Web site, it controls more than 1,200 radio stations, as well as a handful of local television stations and other media outlets.

What about television? Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch are probably the best known and most powerful head honchos in that realm.

If a small number of huge companies control almost all of the consumer media (I haven't even touched on the world of print), where are we, the helpless public, supposed to turn?

How about one-on-one communication via the good old-fashioned telephone? No? Well, then pick up your cell phone with all those newfangled cameras and Internet browsers and music players and whatnot.

There are plenty of cellular service providers, right? I've been with three different companies in the past half decade.

Unfortunately, it looks like that market is about to get smaller, and that's a very bad thing indeed. 

AT&T Wireless recently held a board meeting where it was decided that it was in the company's best interest to be put up for auction.

Naturally, the third largest wireless service provider in the United States would be quite a desirable property, even with $5.9 billion in debt, so it comes as no surprise that both Vodafone and Cingular have been sniffing around AT&T Wireless' hindquarters.

Cingular, the second largest wireless provider in the United States (Verizon is the largest, a controlling interest of which is owned by Vodafone), currently has the top bid at $38 billion.

It seems that AT&T Wireless wants to wrap this deal up by the end of February, so it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that there will be one less competitor in the marketplace.

So who cares? I do, for one, but perhaps the question should be "why care?"

If you're a believer in the competitive free market, and I don't think I'm overstepping my bounds by assuming that most of you are, you probably realize how competition among companies helps keep service good and prices low for the consumer.

With one of the biggest players in the wireless market going away, the few remaining companies will be sitting even higher on the hog. I'd expect service quality to decline and prices to inflate some after the takeover is complete.

Of course, that's just my idle speculation. What isn't, however, is that a large number of jobs will be lost in this takeover as redundant positions are eliminated.

Yes, fewer jobs. AT&T Wireless isn't exactly a small company, so this is a big deal.

Another reason I dislike lack of competition in the marketplace is because once a company gets large enough to the point where it reaches market saturation, it starts looking for more "creative" ways to increase profit -- such as sending jobs overseas or using inferior supplies.

Is AT&T Wireless losing money? Yes, it is. Should it restructure itself and try to remain independent in the marketplace? I certainly think so. Will that happen? Sadly, I doubt it.

If this buyout happens, Cingular can join the Rupert Murdochs, the Clear Channels and the Microsofts of the world, and the rest of us can sit out in the cold along with all the former employees of AT&T Wireless.

Oh, and to those of you who may point out that the market is quite competitive, and AT&T Wireless just lost the competition: I hope you're happy with your cellular service provider.

Bean, an editorial writer for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached at me@mattbean.com.