Should Latinos Support the AT&T Merger?

As leaders of some civil rights groups resign and withdraw their legal filings opposing the AT&T merger and network neutrality under suspicion of trading political support for the promise of jobs and donations- other national civil and human rights organizations are taking a closer look at the role big media companies play in their organizations and communities.

Latino organizations represent the fastest growing consumer base for wireless technologies- and they have a difficult choice to make. Can they afford to examine the merger on its merits, and oppose it if they find it harmful?

Despite clear evidence that the AT&T merger is the worst way to expand access, would eliminate jobs, raise prices, and harm workers who aren’t lucky enough to be unionized- some civil rights groups have still given it a thumbs up. But some Latino organizations I know and respect are doing a damn good job making sure their communities are represented as the DOJ and the FCC decide if this merger is best for America.

Recently, the National Latino Congreso, a member of Latinos for Internet Freedom (LIF), sent a letter to AT&T asking tough, but good, questions about claims that the merger will bring access and employment to Latino communities. Rather than simply pointing fingers or turning a blind eye to the facts, NLC is doing what all Latino civil rights groups should- making AT&T answer to them instead of the other way around.

In a recent blog, another LIF member, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, said they were disappointed to hear of the merger- and pointed out that despite that 25% of Latinos are in poverty, they pay more for cell phones than any other demographic group. On average, they pay $104 per month.

These two leading Latino organizations oppose the merger of AT&T and T-mobile. What about you, what do you think? Will the replacement of a low-cost competitor (T-mobile) with a carrier that boasts expensive phones, a bad network, and control of more than 70% of the wireless market (AT&T) hurt or help Latino communities?

Tags: AT&T, blog, Featured, Latinos

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011 at 4:54 pm and is filed under CMJ Home. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Should Latinos Support the AT&T Merger?”

1. Karlos Gauna Schmieder says:

   June 23, 2011 at 11:42 am

   Great blog. Thanks for this, Mac!

   Reply
2. Betty Yu says:

   June 23, 2011 at 8:06 pm

   Great blog and information. Let’s hope that there will be a groundswell of civil rights groups coming out publicly to question the merger…

   Reply

Back to Blog