Thursday, January 27, 2005

AT&T soars on SBC takeover talk: Shares in US phone giant AT&T leap after reports that one of its spin-offs is preparing to take it over.[...]Consumer groups were unhappy about the possible deal. "For SBC to gobble up its original parent company would finally put much of local and long-distance competition in the grave," said Gene Kimmelman, senior director of public policy at the Consumers Union. (Via BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition.) What competition? To paraphrase Monty Python: It's not pining, it's passed on. This competition is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to meet its maker. This is a late competition. It's a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. If you hadn't nailed it to the perch, it would be pushing up the daisies. It's rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is an ex-competition. Telecom competition: fertilizing daisies and legislators since 1996. 10:00:03 PM