How Will AT&T's Merger With T-Mobile Affect Sierra Madre?
The announcement comes a month and a half after the City Council accepted preliminary plans from AT&T that will modify an existing cellular tower in Sierra Vista Park
By Justin Chapman, Sierra Madre Patch, 5/4/2011
AT&T's purchase of T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom would create the largest cellular carrier in the country, leaving only three major cellular companies in the country: AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint Nextel, as reported by The New York Times Sunday.The multi-billion dollar deal comes on the heels of an ongoing local agreement between AT&T and T-Mobile. On Feb. 9, Sierra Madre Patch editor John Stephens that the City Council voted to accept preliminary plans from AT&T that will modify an existing cellular tower in in hopes of bettering notoriously bad cell phone coverage from the carrier within the city.
That tower modification proposal followed an agreement between AT&T and T-Mobile to allow the larger carrier to use the existing infrastructure for what is called a "co-location" design in lieu of constructing an independent, secondary tower.
The fate of the modification proposal remains to be seen as the transaction between AT&T and T-Mobile USA has not yet been approved and is sure to set off a regulatory battle in Washington over the effects of the deal on competitors and consumers.
Also of note, a separate but similar story unfolded almost two weeks ago when wireless Internet provider AT&T Mobility over Utility Users Taxes it improperly collected from city residents and turned over to the city.
Essentially, AT&T wants the city to refund taxes to Sierra Madre residents, and they're prepared to use legal action to seek a refund in the amount of $56,861.22. That amount, according to the claim, includes taxes collected from Sierra Madre customers of the company between Nov. 1, 2005, and Sep. 30, 2010. The claim is part of a massive action by AT&T requesting refunds from cities across the country.