Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Desperate, AT&T claims it will bring 5,000 jobs to the U.S. if T-Mobile merger approved

Jeffrey Van Camp
By
Image used with permission by copyright holder

AT&T desperately wants this T-Mobile merger to go through. Yesterday, the wireless carrier said it would bring 5,000 jobs it outsourced back to the U.S. if regulators let its $39 billion deal go through. Most of these jobs are low-paying wireless call center positions. The company also promised not to cut any more wireless call center positions, but only if the deal goes through.

Assuming a call center employee makes about $15 an hour and works a full 40-hour week, we’re looking at about $30,000 per employee, which means about $150 million in cost to hire 5,000 call center employees in the U.S. Keep in mind that AT&T is already paying something for those employees overseas, so the actual cost is lower. In any case, $150 million is nothing compared to the $3-6 billion AT&T will have to pay out to T-Mobile if the merger isn’t approved, reports the WSJ.

While 5,000 jobs coming to the United States is definitely a good thing, it’s small change compared to the potential impacts of the AT&T-Mobile merger, in the long run. Less competition in the wireless space can only mean slowed innovation and higher prices.

Related

AT&T has been pulling out all the stops for this merger. In the last few months, it has begun choking users of unlimited data plans and suing a group of its own customers, all in the name of buying T-Mobile.

Almost every announcement AT&T has made  in the last few months seems to involve needless choking of data or price hikes. Does the carrier wants to scare us? Is that why it recently doubled the minimum price of a texting plan? Publicly, it blames issues on the “spectrum crunch.” Even the tone of its press releases seems to indicate that if we don’t let it buy T-Mobile, bad things will happen. A recently released document shows that AT&T will refuse to build out its LTE network into many rural areas unless the T-Mobile deal goes through.

What do you think of AT&T’s plan to bring 5,000 jobs back to the U.S.? Does it help justify the merger?

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Jeffrey Van Camp
Jeffrey Van Camp
Former Digital Trends Contributor
As DT's Deputy Editor, Jeff helps oversee editorial operations at Digital Trends. Previously, he ran the site's…
I keep forgetting about the Apple Watch Series 9’s coolest feature
Apps on the Apple Watch Series 9's screen.

I’m just going to come out and say it: I love the Apple Watch Series 9. A couple of weeks ago, I returned to wearing it every day after an extended period of not doing so. And you know what? I was surprised by how much I’d missed it.

But one thing has bothered me this time around: There's a feature I haven't been using. Not because it’s bad, but because I tend to forget it's there.
Effortless to own and wear

Read more
3 foldable phone deals you should seriously consider today
The Google Pixel Fold with the screen open.

For those who are thinking about getting a foldable phone, we've rounded up three foldable phone deals for you to consider as your next purchase. Motorola is currently selling the Motorola Razr at $200 off, which brings its price down to $500 from $700, and the Motorola Razr Plus at $300 off, which lowers its price to $700 from $1,000. Meanwhile, the Google Pixel Fold is available from Best Buy with a $500 discount that slashes its price to $1,299 from $1,799. You can be sure that you won't regret purchasing any of these devices because they're all included in our roundup of the best folding phones, but you need to hurry because the offers may expire at any moment.
Motorola Razr -- $500, was $700

The Motorola Razr features a 1.5-inch external OLED display and a 6.9-inch Full HD+ internal pOLED display, with decent performance provided by its Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 processor and 8GB of RAM. It's got a 64MP main camera and a 13MP wide-angle camera at the back, plus a 32MP selfie camera inside. The folding phone features a metal chassis that's surrounded by soft but durable leather, and it folds without a gap.

Read more
The OnePlus 12R is still one of 2024’s best smartphone deals
OnePlus 12R Genshin Impact Edition in hand.

OnePlus is still quite new to me, as I was a lifelong iPhone user until I joined Digital Trends. However, OnePlus has a pretty solid reputation in the mobile world, and now I can see why, as the OnePlus 12 is one of my favorite smartphones that I’ve used so far this year.

But the OnePlus 12 isn’t the only phone that OnePlus launched in 2024. There is also the more affordable value option, the OnePlus 12R, which even comes in a cool Genshin Impact Edition.

Read more