Secondly, he says, “just like we did with the old AT&T Wireless merger, when we combine both networks what we are going to have is more network capacity and better quality as the density of the network grid increases.”

Finally, De La Vega reiterated the company’s pledge to cover 95% of the U.S. population with LTE services.

Although LTE peak rates are 100Mbps for downloads and 50Mbps for uploads, users initially are likely to see speeds in the 6-10Mbps range. At least in theory, the AT&T LTE strategy now gives T-Mobile subscribers a path to  high-capacity wireless broadband.

Bloggers and other pundits are weighing in, and ahead of the opening of the stock market, much of the commentary is critical.

“One bad company buying another,” is how , a self-confessed AT&T despiser, summed up the news.