2015考研英语阅读英文原刊《经济学人》：美国移动通讯业

　　2015考研英语复习正是强化复习阶段，考研英语阅读在考研英语中占了40分，所以考研英语阅读是英语科目中重要的一项。新东方名师范猛老师曾建议过考研生需要坚持每天泛读10-15分钟的英文原刊。强烈推荐了杂志《经济学人》杂志中的文章也是考研英语的主要材料来源.希望考研考生认真阅读，快速提高考研英语阅读水平。

　　Mobile telecoms in America美国移动通讯业

　　An audacious merger with a poor reception(注1)联姻大胆，反响不佳

　　AT&T’s ambitious bid to reshape America’swireless market has spooked rivals. But it facessignificant hurdles

　　AT&T的竞标雄心勃勃，意在重塑美国无线通讯市场，竞争对手惊慌失措。但并购也面临重大阻碍

　　PEOPLE who enjoy poking fun at the patchy qualityof AT&T’s mobile-phone network in Americawere provided with some fresh comedy material this week. “So, AT&T and T-Mobile aregetting married. You’re all invited. But there will be no reception afterwards,” tweeted one wagafter news emerged on March 20th that AT&T had bid a breathtaking $39 billion for T-Mobile USA, a smaller wireless operator owned by Germany’s Deutsche Telekom.

　　在美国，AT&T移动电话网络质量不稳常遭人取笑，那些以此为乐的人，本周有了新鲜笑料。3月20日，AT&T以390亿美元的惊人出价，竞购德国Deutsche Telekom公司旗下的小型无线通讯运营商T-Mobile USA，新闻曝光后，一条段子在Twitter上风传：“于是，AT&T跟T-Mobile喜结良缘。人人获邀出席。但之后却无人设宴，也无人赴宴。”

　　Amusing as this is, the deal itself is no laughing matter. On the contrary, the proposedmerger, which needs the approval of antitrust and telecoms regulators, has sparked a gooddeal of controversy over whether it will be good or bad for American consumers. Somemembers of Congress have called for a thorough review of the transaction and consumergroups have been quick to condemn it.

　　段子很有趣，但交易本身却非笑料。相反，这桩须获反垄断机构及通讯监管机构批准的并购提案，引发了多场论战，争论此次交易对美国消费者是利是弊。一些国会议员呼吁全面评估这桩交易，而多个消费者团体迅速予以谴责。

　　Their concern is hardly surprising. America’s four largest mobile-phone operators—AT&T,Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA and Sprint Nextel—already account for 82% of the nationalmarket. Assuming the transaction goes ahead as planned, AT&T would add T-Mobile’s34m customers to the 96m that it had at the end of 2010, propelling it well ahead of Verizon,its main rival.

　　他们如此关注，并不足为奇。美国四大移动电话运营商——AT&T、Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA及Sprint Nextel，已占全美无线通讯市场的82%。去年底，AT&T用户达9600万，倘若交易如期进行，T-Mobile的3400万用户也收归帐下，AT&T就将大大领先其主要竞争对手Verizon。

　　Critics of the deal, which AT&T hopes to complete within 12 months, say it will undermineefforts made many years ago to inject more competition into America’s telecoms industry. Inthe mid-1970s the government started investigating AT&T’s dominant position in fixed-line telephones, which led to the break up in 1984 of “Ma Bell” into eight pieces. Could the bidfor T-Mobile be a sign that monopoly Ma is trying to return from her grave?

　　AT&T希望此事一年搞定，但批评人士称，这将破坏多年前为促进美国通讯业竞争而作出的种种努力。上世纪七十年代中期，政府开始调查AT&T在固定电话业务上的主导地位，导致“贝尔大妈”在1984年被大卸八块。而今年这起竞购，会成为“大妈”试图起死回生的一个标志吗?

　　AT&T maintains that its deal will not beanticompetitive, even though it will leave it andVerizon with a combined 70% share of the Americanmarket, up from 58%. It points out that the averageinflation-adjusted price for wireless services inAmerica fell by 50% from 1999 to 2009 according tothe Government Accountability Office, an arm ofCongress, even though there were several largemergers involving mobile-phone companies duringthat period. The company also argues that manylocal markets in America still have five or moremobile-phone firms pitching for customers’ business, so taking T-Mobile out of the mix shouldnot dent competition.

　　交易达成后，AT&T与Verizon在美市场总份额，将从58%提升至70%，即便如此，AT&T仍坚称这笔交易并不反竞争。它指出，根据国会下属机构“美国审计总署”的数据，1999~2009年期间，即使有好几起移动电话企业大并购，美国无线通讯服务经过通胀调整后的均价，还是下跌了一半。AT&T也表明，美国众多本地市场，仍有超过五家移动电话公司，竞价提供客户业务，因此从这场混战中带走T-Mobile，应不致破坏竞争。

　　Fans of the deal reckon such arguments should be enough to convince regulators. Hal Singerof Navigant Economics, a consulting firm, notes that although T-Mobile’s prices are low, it hasbeen losing subscribers rapidly, which suggests that it is hardly an effective check onAT&T. That may explain why Deutsche Telekom is so keen to say auf Wiedersehen to itsAmerican wireless business.

　　支持交易的人认为，上述理由足以说服监管机构。咨询公司Navigant Economics的Hal Singer注意到，尽管T-Mobile的服务价格低廉，订户却一直迅速流失，表明对AT&T的攻势难以阻遏。这可以解释，Deutsche Telekom何以如此热衷向其美国无线通讯业务道“再见”。

　　However, an antitrust expert says that exclusive, nationwide device deals such as the oneAT&T struck with Apple in 2007 for distribution of the latter’s iPhone could encourageregulators to take a far broader view of the market than they have done in the past, not leastbecause in smartphones, the near-duopoly of AT&T and Verizon will be so much stronger.

　　然而，一位反垄断专家称，几起全国性设备专营交易，如AT&T在2007年与苹果就独家销售iPhone达成协议，可能促使监管机构以较以往更长远的眼光，审视该市场，尤其因为智能电话市场上，AT&T与Verizon几近两家独大，监管机构若不行动，该局面会愈加铁板一块。

　　At an industry conference this week, Dan Hesse, the boss of Sprint Nextel, gave warning thatallowing AT&T to walk off with T-Mobile would leave “too much power…in the hands oftwo”. The Computer & Communications Industry Association, whose members includefirms such as Google and Facebook, echoed that sentiment. In a statement on March 22nd itsaid that the proposed deal “may be the most aggressive and anti-consumer merger proposalin history.”

　　本周，在一场业界会议上，Sprint Nextel老板Dan Hesse警告，允许AT&T带走T-Mobile，会导致“两者掌握的力量过多”。“计算机与通信产业联盟”也附和此观点。其成员包括Google跟Facebook之类的企业。3月22日，该联盟发表了一份声明，称这桩交易提案“可能是史上最咄咄逼人又反消费者的并购提议。”

　　AT&T’s plan could also hit another snag. In several previous mergers between mobile-phone companies regulators have required the merging businesses to sell wireless spectrum,network infrastructure and other assets in some local markets to win their approval. This hasallowed smaller competitors such as US Cellular and MetroPCS to snap up the assets, turningthem into stronger rivals in those areas. AT&T has made it clear it is willing to do thesame thing to get a green light for its deal. But given the great clout the new entity wouldhave, regulators may conclude that even a large number of disposals would not guaranteerobust competition in some areas.

　　AT&T的计划可能会碰到另一个难题。此前几宗移动电话公司并购案，监管机构都要求合并企业在某些当地市场卖掉无线频谱、网络基础设施及其他资产，以获准并购。小竞争者如US Cellular和MetroPCS得以抢购这些资产，在这些地区壮大。AT&T清楚表示，只要交易获准，它也会照做。不过，鉴于此次并购产生的新实体影响甚巨，监管机构可能断定：就算并购企业大规模出售资产，也无法保证某些地区竞争机制健全，因而不予批准。

　　An annual report on the state of America’s wirelessindustry published last year by the FederalCommunications Commission (FCC), which along withthe Department of Justice must approveAT&T’s bid, shows that regulators were alreadyconcerned about the state of competition in mobiletelephony before this week’s news. Havingpreviously affirmed, year after year, that theindustry was “effectively competitive”, it declinedto do so, though it made no specificrecommendations on how to improve matters.

　　AT&T的竞购须得联邦通信委员会(FCC)与美国司法部核准才可进行。而去年，FCC发布了一份《美国无线通讯产业状况年度报告》，表明本周联姻消息爆出前，监管机构已对移动电话产业竞争状况忧心忡忡。此前，FCC年复一年都证实该产业存在“有效竞争”，而今却不肯这么说，尽管它对如何改进问题也无确切建议。

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