Frank Selden is an attorney at Frank Selden Law, PS, in Bothell, Washington. Selden submitted the following op-ed in support of a T-Mobile/Sprint merger.
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Most of my clients in the estate-planning business worked hard to get what they have. They need honest, easy-to-understand analysis to help protect what they have earned against loss.
Technology has made the kind of tax planning my business performs more accessible than ever. And I have come to depend nearly as much on the kind of reliable unlimited wireless broadband service that T-Mobile offers as I do on legal treatises and hornbooks. That’s why I had so many questions when I first heard about the proposed merger of T-Mobile and Sprint. Would I continue to receive unlimited data? Would I still get the best rate on wireless service? And could I still count on T-Mobile for industry-leading customer services and technology?
I have looked at the data and talked to the company. I believe the combined company will continue to champion the customer by deploying advanced new “5G” wireless services and driving down prices.
How? Simple economics, really.
Should the merger receive approval, the new T-Mobile will have more resources, cost efficiencies, talent, and technologies to take on Verizon and AT&T, which dominate the industry today. Out of the gate, the new T-Mobile will invest nearly $40 billion to integrate the networks and ramp up the company’s 5G offerings.
Combining the towers and spectrum of both T-Mobile and Sprint will generate immense broadband capacity – enough to power everything from 4K mobile video to sensors along smart roadways. And as any freshman economics student can tell you, when supply goes up in a competitive industry like wireless broadband, prices will fall.
As I expand my business across the state of Washington, I know we need to reach customers in rural areas too. Nearly half of all American homes today have no or only one service provider who can offer wired home broadband at speeds of 25 megabits per second or greater.
The New T-Mobile plans to deliver high-speed wireless broadband with speeds greater than 100 megabits per second to nearly two-thirds of the U.S. by 2021 and to almost 90 percent of the U.S. by 2024. This expansive reach of the new company’s network promises to allow small businesses to create efficiencies all down the line, from streamlining document downloads to supporting live 4K video chats to enabling 100 times as many connected devices as possible today.
Of course, a major reason I am bullish on 5G is the innovation that will occur once it is in place.
5G will usher in a new era of unprecedented innovation that will propel the burgeoning Internet of Things into a day-to-day reality for even the most remote workers. Advancements will be possible in every IoT area from “tele-healthcare” and remote patient monitoring to the data management of livestock. 5G will bring a wide range of economic and social benefits, including millions of jobs in communities across America. According to the wireless trade association CTIA, the deployment of 5G will support 3 million jobs, bring $275 billion in new investment, and generate some $500 billion in economic growth.
These advancements won’t be fully realized until the kind of 5G the T-Mobile and Sprint merger would provide becomes a reality.
The estate-planning business is all about looking out for your family by making the tough decisions well before a crisis occurs. By that measure, the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint is an easy call. The proposed merger will deliver better wireless services to more people for less money. Case closed.
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