WebProNews spoke with former Congressman and Internet Innovation Alliance Honorary Chairman Rick Boucher about these questions and others, who gave us his perspective on the companies. Congressman Boucher supported the merger, as he told us in a prior interview, because he believed it would bring innovation, help the economy, and produce jobs.

He told us that, although AT&T would not be able to complete its goals in the same time frame it would have if the deal had gone through, he believed it could still meet them. The Congressman also said T-Mobile was a strong company, and he believed it would remain a player in the mobile industry. However, its biggest challenge will be gaining the capital it needs to deploy 4G.

Even though he thinks the companies will bounce back from this hurdle, Congressman Boucher told us that the mobile industry, consumers, and the economy would be impacted long-term.

What’s your prediction for the future of AT&T and T-Mobile? Let us know in the comments.

Jim Lakely, the Co-Director of the Center for Digital Economy at The Heartland Institute, disagrees with this way of thinking. He believes that the deal will go through for a variety of reasons.

For starters, he told WebProNews that the marketplace is actually more competitive than people think. Although consumers are primarily drawn to the bigger players like AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint, there are smaller providers such as Leap Wireless and U.S. Cellular that serve as competition as well.

A lot of people are also opposed to the deal out of fear of price increases. Because the wireless marketplace is so “customer-sensitive,” Lakely doesn’t think this would be problem. If prices did go up, he said customers would move to another provider, which is not what AT&T or T-Mobile would want.

He believes the biggest benefit of the merger would be the development of 4G for consumers. By combining the talents and assets of each company, he said that 4G would be available to more people quicker.

What are your thoughts on the merger?

Also, earlier this month, T-Mobile had a lawsuit filed against it by EZ Texting, which is a company that helps businesses send mass marketing messages to consumers.  EZ Texting accuses T-Mobile of blocking access to its network because it conducts business with a website that provides information about medical marijuana.

Regarding this case, Gigi Sohn, the president and co-founder of Public Knowledge, said, “This case is yet another example of a totally arbitrary decision by a carrier to block text message calls between consumers and organizations they want to communicate with. The FCC should put a fast end to this blocking by issuing the ruling we asked them for three years ago.”

As a result of these recent developments, some groups are beginning to ask that net neutrality be extended to mobile platforms. If not, they fear that innovation would plummet in the mobile industry.

ChaCha, the question and answer service based on sending text messages, has spoken out toward this cause. Scott Jones, the company’s CEO and co-founder, has even said that if T-Mobile carries out its plan to enforce the tax, it would have to drop T-Mobile customers from its SMS services.

On the other hand, T-Mobile justifies its actions by saying it is trying to prevent against unsolicited commercial texts. The mobile carrier also believes its action would be a net positive for its partners.

Incidentally, T-Mobile’s tax would not include companies such as Facebook and Twitter.

A hearing for EZ Texting is set for tomorrow, September 30. Also, if T-Mobile follows through and does impose its new fee, companies will feel the effects of it on October 1.

As this net neutrality fight continues, what do you think of these recent activities and their implications?