AT&T与T-Mobile的交易意味着更多而不是更少的竞争。

很多关于AT&T收购T-Mobile计划的评论、抱怨和谴责都源于这样一种假设:市场上的参与者越少，竞争就越弱，消费者受到的伤害也就越大。这种假设从根本上来说是错误的。真正的资本主义可以概括为“两狗一骨”的形象。狗不住在罗杰斯先生的附近。他们不相信分享。分享是不好的。拥有整件事是件好事。他们会努力争取的。市场“集中度”的提高——即为某一特定商品或服务争夺客户的公司减少——本质上并不反竞争。事实上，这可能是更激烈竞争的标志:参与者越少，风险就越高，因此他们的竞争就越激烈。 I sure hope that's what happens with AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint-Nextel. Okay, that's three dogs but my point still stands. And that's not taking into account smaller, often regional wireless carriers. Most mobile subscribers stay in one place or move between two places: home and work, and an occasional vacation to DisneyWorld or Cape Cod or the Grand Canyon. As a result, the vast majority of mobile subscribers don't need a nationwide network. They just need a network that works really well where they live and work. One that offers a selection of phones that lets them choose what they want from that group; and offers service plans, and "value," at a price the subscribers are willing to pay. If anything, the regional carriers can be smarter, faster, more response, and more ruthless than the nation-wide Big Three. That is going to be fun to watch. They don't even face the same kind of daunting capital investments that the big carriers face. That's partly because smaller-scale base stations - in a variety of sizes - are making network deployments far more affordable, flexible, and effective than the traditional voice-oriented macro-cells that are still the basis of the networks from Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint. At the CTIA conference this week in Orlando, several vendors are offering new small base stations with integrated wireless backhaul, making them even faster and cheaper to deploy and to run. Less choice? Choices are inherently limiting, and the idea that having as many phones to select from as breakfast cereals or paper towels is not something that consumers are demanding. Here's to the concentrating cellular industry: may the most ruthless dog win.