Randall Stephenson is trying to fill the shoes of Ed Whitacre Jr., his predecessor and the man that made at&t (SBC) what it is today. He just can't seem to keep pace. And so his greed will be his downfall. If he knew what was good for him, he would back off the merger concept and focus on upgrading the at&t network. Buying competition out only lasts so long, and then Ma Bell will be ripped to shreds for Monopoly status again. I hate to think what would happen in the telecom industry if that were to happen again. In 2005 when SBC bought at&t, I told a friend that Bell South was next to give 'the new at&t' complete control of Cingular, and I was right. It was announced 6 months later. And when I heard it, I said this was going to be bad for competition.
The only way that at&t will crash and burn again is if they stop innovating. Blaming the government for their reason to raise prices IMO is treason and they must be punished for it.
This isn't marketing. It's just pure GREED. Ed Whitacre Jr. has made a monster and now no one wants to stop it. But it must be stopped. Frankly the government needs to intervene and make at&t divest itself of it's wireless arm and make the wireless company take back on the Cingular name. That will keep the market competition healthy.
(Disclaimer) I have bitter feelings against at&t only. I have no bad feelings against Cingular or any other wireless brand. These are just my own opinions, most of which are from past experiences.