AT&T will bring back 5,000 jobs if T-Mobile deal is approved

AT&T has committed to bringing back to the United States 5,000 wireless call center jobs that it outsourced, should federal regulators approve its proposed purchase of competitor T-Mobile for $39 billion. (Unfiltered: How big is AT&T's bet on T-Mobile? Report says $6B)

Job creation, and loss, has been a point of focus for regulators scrutinizing the details of the deal; 5,000 new jobs would let each side step away from the bargaining table looking good.

"Today's commitment results from AT&T developing detailed analysis focused specifically on identifying opportunities with the T-Mobile merger to bring good-paying wireless call center jobs back to the United States," AT&T said in a statement.

Steven K. Berry, president and CEO of the Rural Cellular Association, is among the critics of the deal. In an Aug. 19 op-ed in Iowa's Sioux City Journal, Berry feared that the deal could result in a loss of jobs in Iowa — which is actually home to 67 independent wireless carriers, the most of any state.

"Another AT&T fallacy is that the takeover will create jobs and help the economy," wrote Berry. "Quite to the contrary, T-Mobile employees may lose their jobs, T-Mobile stores will close and many small carriers that go under will also eliminate jobs. In Iowa alone, nearly 100 jobs are at risk as a direct result of the proposed merger."

In its statement yesterday, AT&T worked to allay such fears.

"AT&T [is] committed that the merger will not result in any job losses for U.S.-based wireless call center employees of T-Mobile USA or AT&T," it said, "who are on the payroll when the merger closes."

The FCC earlier this year stated that AT&T and T-Mobile and the onus on them to prove that the deal will benefit American consumers.


AT&T has worked to get big-money Silicon Valley investors and companies behind the deal, and Sequoia Capital, Yahoo, Microsoft and RIM have said in support that the merger would offer a boost to wireless network capacity, which will be needed as demand for data-intense uses, such as streaming video, grows.

The promise of 5,000 new jobs (alternately, a loss of 5,000 jobs elsewhere) may be AT&T's most effective playing card yet.