"We today have such a monopoly in AT&T and in Verizon. The FCC, since they allowed those mergers, have actually relaxed regulation with respect to those firms--going so far as to removing from Verizon any obligation to provide any high bandwidth service at all."

- Jonathon Lee in Bureau of National Affairs, June 7, 2006

• The merger will result in the creation of the nation's largest residential broadband provider, with the combined company controlling nearly 23% of all residential and small business broadband lines in the entire country. It will have a monopoly sufficient to force up consumer prices and kill innovation. Of the other residential broadband providers which also have Internet backbone facilities (Verizon and Qwest), AT&T will be the market leader by far, with nearly ten (10) million subscribers, to Verizon's five (5) million, and Qwest's one and one-half (1.5) million.

• Since the FCC approved the last round of giant Bell mergers (SBC/AT&T and Verizon/MCI) last year, true broadband deployment in this country has slowed down significantly. According to the FCC's own statistics, the increase in penetration of true broadband services -- offering more than 200kpbs speed -- droped by nearly 50% after FCC approval of those mega-mergers that eliminated the nation's largest competitive service providers: "Advanced services lines, which deliver services at speeds exceeding 200 kbps in both directions, increased by 15% during the second half of 2005, from 37.3 million to 42.8 million, compared to a 29% increase, from 28.9 million to 37.3 million lines, during the first half of 2005." http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266596A1.pdf

• Broadband deployment to minority communities is seriously threatened by this merger. "AT&T allegedly built their systems in such a way that they largely avoided providing service to predominantly African-American neighborhoods. AT&T frequently planned its "rollout" of new services in high-income, affluent, non-minority areas."

-- Concerned Mayors Alliance, FCC Comments, June 6, 2006.

• According to the American Consumer Institute, 91 percent of U.S. households witih incomes of greater than $75,000 have Internet access, whereas less the 50% of homes with incomes of less than $25,000 have Internet access. Source: ACI, Who Uses Information Technology Services? A Demographic Analysis of American Consumers, March 14, 2006.

• Broadband choice in rural areas of the country is also threatened by this latest merger. "In a recent survey of NTCA member companies, 57% of survey respondents indicated that they have two or fewer choices for Internet backbone providers, and 38% indicated they have but a single option."

--National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, FCC Reply Comments, June 20, 2006.

• Consumer groups urge the FCC not to believe AT&T's promise that it will deploy more broadband if this merger is approved: "As in the perennial dilemma faced by Charlie Brown, the Commission is being asked again to “kick the football” of merger approval. In this case AT&T and BellSouth, playing the role of the smirking Lucy, are again promising the glory of competition and public benefits, if only the Commission believes the fairytale contained in this merger’s Public Interest Showing." -- Consumer Federation of America. Consumers Untion, Free Press, and U.S. Public Interest Research Group, FCC Reply Comments, June 20, 2006.