IVR Deconstructed

Are you an AT&T or T-Mobile subscriber? On March 20, 2011, AT&T announced it was purchasing T-Mobile for $39 billion.  The deal would come with 33.7 T-Mobile subscribers, making AT&T the largest mobile provider in the U.S. with 43% of the market, significantly larger than any other phone company.

As it stands, there are four major mobile providers operating in the U.S.: AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon.  According to Reuters, these four companies control 90 percent of the market.  Just today, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that they were filing a suit to block the merger, stating that the union would: “substantially lessen competition for mobile wireless telecommunications services across the United States, resulting in higher prices, poorer quality services, fewer choices and fewer innovative products.”

Today, the DOJ announced that they were filing a suit in federal court to block the takeover because of antitrust concerns.  Antitrust or competition law was drafted to both promote and preserve market competition, preventing the monopolization or cannibalization of an industry by any one company.  Antitrust law regulates anti-competitive business conduct. Both the DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission can bring civil suits to federal court to ensure that these laws are maintained and enforced.

Federal antitrust law ensures consumer protection by encouraging healthy and robust business development that provides customers a choice.  When companies monopolize the market, competition is jeopardized, affecting the quality and pricing of the products that are available to the end user.

When a huge company like AT&T merges with another huge company like T-Mobile to operate under the same business umbrella, it limits buyer choice and can severely hinder the quality of products being marketed and produced.  It is with this point in mind that the DOJ filed suit to block the merger.

A majority of Americans communicate exclusively via mobile or wireless communications.  There are myriad types of phone including feature and smart phones, tablets and data cards but only four large providers of cell phone service.  As it stands, there is already limited competition.  Narrowing the field by one and combining two of the four companies would only serve to further exacerbate this situation, extremely limiting the choices customers will have.

Mobile phones are virtually at the forefront of the tech revolution, with developers and tech companies like T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon constantly trying to promote their product.  Interactive voice response systems, in large part, rely on the use of technology, especially the mobile phone.

Mobile phones offer the ease of mobility and the convenience of accessibility and are purchased in large quantities by people from all demographics.  If a merger like this occurs and a critical number of subscribers find themselves with bad service or service they can’t afford, it will effect numerous other industries as well, including IVR.  I guess we should all thank the DOJ for taking a stand against this.  After all, AT&T is dropping enough calls already, we don’t need them dropping anymore.