AT&T also has made it clear to Wall St. that it does not intend to compete based on prices, but rather on large packages or bundles of services."

-Mark Cooper in Bureau of National Affairs, June 6, 2006

The merger will raise prices by eliminating AT&T as BellSouth's largest local competitor. In its latest 10-K filing with the SEC, BellSouth admitted that AT&T was one of its two most significant local service competitors as of December 31, 2005, only three months before the merger was announced.

AT&T is hiking prices at an alarming rate. For example, according to TRAC, AT&T’s basic rate phone plan that cost $10.12 in 1996 now costs $25.82 today, thanks to the elimination of competition. And on August 1, AT&T announced over 15 new fee increases on its local and long distance plans. This year alone, AT&T hiked local phone prices in Missouri (8 percent), Wisconsin (31 percent), Texas (4 percent) and Oklahoma (18 percent), to name just a few.

Think AT&T cares about giving you quality service or fair prices? Think again. Here's what AT&T's CEO Ed Whitacre told Wall Street about how much of the merger savings they plan to pass along to consumers:

Question: "Looking at the BellSouth merger . . . how much of the merger savings do you anticipate the regulators are going to demand get returned to customers as part of the approval process?"

Answer: "I don't think we'll have to give back one thng to gain approval of the BellSouth merger. And we really did not on the AT&T merger; I think the same conditions exist here, I don't expect to give back anything."

-- AT&T Chairman and CEO Edward Whitacre. Source: Final Transcript, T-AT&T at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Strategic Decisions Conference at p. 6.

Where is the merger money going? You guessed it: into the pockets of AT&T/BellSouth executives. The value of severance packages to which BellSouth executives are entitled if they leave AT&T within two years after this merger closes: Chairman Duane Ackerman (Chairman and CEO), $9.2 million; Mark Feidler (President and COO), $5.2 million, W. Patrick Shannon (CFO), $3.1 million. Source: Form S-4, March 31, 2006.

As a result of these higher prices, fewer Americans are subscribing to basic phone service. According to the FCC, the percentage of Americans who have a phone actually dropped 1.1% in the second half of last year, to a frighteningly low 92.9%.

Businesses are also paying higher prices: "Thanks to rates of return that have hit triple digits for some carriers, the Commission’s failure to fix its special access regulation cost enterprise customers over $21.3 million dollars per day in excessive charges during 2005. Meanwhile, AT&T and BellSouth earned returns of 91.7% and 98.3%, respectively, on their special access services last year."

-- Ad Hoc Telecommunications User Committee Reply Comments, Federal Communications Commission, June 20, 2006.

"[Bell company] overpricing of broadband services cost American businesses $21.3 million per day in 2005. At those prices, AT&T’s and BellSouth’s rates of return were a jaw-dropping 91.7% and 98.3%, respectively."

-- Ad Hoc Telecommunications User Committee Reply Comments, Federal Communications Commission, June 20, 2006.