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AT&T's agreement to purchase T-Mobile for $39 billion is generating speculation that prices for wireless telephone service will rise for [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] many, as the quantity of big wireless providers shrinks from four to three.
T-Mobile customers appear most vulnerable. The service generally charges less than AT&T does. That will probably change if the deal experiences, says Mark Beccue of ABI Research. The companies say it could take per year for the acquisition to pass through muster with federal regulators and lawmakers.

Yet, there's no consensus on whether officials will accept the offer. The Justice Department must decide if it is [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] likely to make the wireless market uncompetitive, potentially resulting in higher prices and fewer choices. The government Communications Commission must determine whether an AT&T alliance with T-Mobile would serve the public interest.

"A lot of horse trading will need to [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] occur to have this deal through," says Bernstein Research analyst Craig Moffett.

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STORY: Sprint stock takes a hit

AT&T may have to divest properties in [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] a few markets and accept restrictions on business practices, Stifel Nicolaus analyst [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] Rebecca Arbogast says. For instance, officials could impose limits on roaming charges for wireless data, and insist upon an agreement to treat all Web services equally - an insurance plan known as net neutrality.

This past year, the FCC expressed concern that there are too few wireless providers. For the first-time, regulators' annual assessment of the marketplace didn't characterize it "effectively competitive." Then, Commissioner Michael Copps said, "Competition may be dramatically eroded and is also seriously endangered by continuing consolidation" [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] in wireless.

T-Mobile's parent, Deutsche Telekom, clearly was concerned with Washington's reaction to the sale. AT&T agreed to spend the money for German company $3 billion and start some airwave spectrum if regulators derail the program.

[link widoczny dla zalogowanych] Still, AT&T is optimistic: It says there's a lot of competition from rivals including MetroPCS and Leap. The sale may help AT&T offer mobile broadband in small , rural communities, something the Federal government wants. "We considered every aspect thoroughly and figured that the sale can and should be authorized," says General Counsel Wayne Watts.

Long an afterthought with the wireless industry, prepaid cell phones may finally get a push in to the mainstream from an unlikely catalyst: AT&T's planned buying T-Mobile.

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Analysts widely expect the merger, whether or not this goes through, can lead to higher prices for wireless customers around the major carriers, nearly all of whom sign an one- or two-year contract in exchange for a highly-discounted phone. But that throws open the door for prepaid and pay-as-you-go services, that are already a much cheaper option: The typical prepaid customer spends less than $60 per month on his phone, when compared with $84 for anyone under contract. And analysts expect the smaller carriers that dominate the prepaid space to determine this as their chance to grab customers sick and tired of high fees and long contracts. "The Metros and Crickets on the planet are going to be very aggressive," says Kirk Parsons, the senior director of wireless services for J.D. Power and Associates. "They're certainly likely to make an effort to poach customers, especially T-Mobile's."

AT&T ( T: 28.26, +0.32, +1.14% ) and T-Mobile ( DTS ) didn't react to requests for comment, though have said in statements they intend to keep pricing competitive.

Prepaid - or non-contract - offers come in two flavors: Prepaid, which has a monthly fee for a certain bucket of minutes and data (being a contract plan), but no annual contract, and pay-as-you-go, where customers at the start for a fixed bucket of talk-time and data, atart exercising . more after they run out. And though pop culture might suggest these plans are only for teens on the tight parental leash or shady characters covering their tracks, the consumer is made of the truth is far more broad. Market researcher comScore reports 54.5% are age 45 or older, and 12.5% make more than $100,000 each year. More new wireless customers have signed up for prepaid plans than cell contracts in the last year-and-a-half, and think tank New Millennium Research Council expects another 24.Six million to change over this year.

The biggest draw of prepaid, which commands 20% with the wireless marketplace, up from 15% 4 years ago, is the price differential - the $300 savings prepaid customers accrue annually compared to their contract-bound counterparts. The largest drawback, on the other hand, is data use and smartphone selection, says Sam Simon, a senior fellow for the New Millennium Research Council. Consumers who primarily call and text will likely find prepaid rates cheaper, even if they're talking a great deal. But people who want the latest apps, an iphone, or any of the coolest smartphones for instance, are largely still restricted to contract services, he explained.

How the post-merger prepaid competition could shake out depends largely [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] on AT&T, says Aapo Markkanen, a business analyst for ABI Research. At this time, the organization has about 6.5 million non-contract subscribers - 11% of prepaid subscribers at most of the - but many of options are utilizing an iPad having [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] a month-to-month data, not the harder typical prepaid phone. T-Mobile has a more robust 7.4 million on its non-contract plans (none who are employing an iPad). If AT&T decides to focus more about its larger contract subscriber base, that leaves ample room for smaller carriers to go in. A lot of smaller carriers use AT&T and T-Mobile's networks, so they really may benefit from improved [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] network quality as well as touting more competitive prices, Simons says.

But the best prepaid deal could grow to be AT&T. To [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] maintain T-Mobile's customer base, AT&T could turn the acquisition into a separate prepaid-only brand, a la Virgin Mobile along with other prepaid providers tied to Sprint ( S: 4.36, -0.69, -13.65% ) , Parsons says. With T-Mobile's existing range of Android handsets, a number of which are already available to prepaid users, it could be a stylish proposition for consumers who haven't yet found the proper [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] combo to entice these to ditch their contract.

Find out more: What the AT&T, T-Mobile Merger Way to Wireless Customers - iphonenowunlocked.com/blog
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