New York, NY – African-American civil rights organization ColorofChange.org declares victory after the announcement that wireless communications giants AT&T and T-Mobile agreed to drop the long-anticipated merger. Nearly 53,000 ColorofChange.org members signed a petition to the FCC in opposition to the merger when it was first announced in June. Earlier this year, nearly 40,000 members called on members of Congress to publicly rescind their support of the merger.

Rashad Robinson, Executive Director of ColorofChange.org, said, “This deal was destined to destroy jobs, raise the price of cellular service, and threaten net neutrality for wireless high-speed Internet. The dropping of this merger was a crucial step in protecting net neutrality, particularly for African Americans who rely on wireless broadband to access the Internet. Moreover, this merger would have turned over control of 80% of the wireless market to two companies, AT&T and Verizon.” Robinson continued, “We also applaud the DOJ and all of the advocates across the country who spoke out on behalf of consumers and in particular poor people and people of color.”