WASHINGTON, DC—Earlier this week, Womble Bond Dickinson attorney Carri Bennet testified before a Congressional subcommittee on how the proposed T-Mobile/Sprint merger could negatively impact rural communities. Now, Bennet and Katherine Messier, Founder and Executive Director of Mobile Beacon, have co-authored a new article on the proposed merger for Morning Consult.
Bennet serves as General Counsel of the Rural Wireless Association. RWA officials have said that the T-Mobile/Sprint merger would force rural Americans to pay more for wireless services. It also would reduce service quality in rural areas, they have said.
“While it would be heartening to believe that the combined company would really be willing to invest the required billions of dollars in bringing 5G to rural America, the fact is that T-Mobile has also promised Wall Street significant cost savings – and has never shown any interest in serving rural communities,” Bennet and Messier write. “It’s hard to see how the combined company would have the financial license to turn around and spend money to expand the necessary infrastructure in more sparsely populated parts of the country.”
Click here to read “Rural Americans Stand to Lose in Proposed T-Mobile/Sprint Merger” by Carri Bennet and Katherine Messier in Morning Consult.
Carri Bennet has more than three decades of experience representing wireline, wireless and broadband communications providers, as well as commercial and noncommercial broadcasters, in regulatory compliance matters. She has a particular focus on advocating for small rural carriers, including serving as General Counsel to the Rural Wireless Association. Bennet represents telecom industry clients before the FCC, state regulatory agencies, the courts, and Congress.