WASHINGTON - December 19 - On Monday, AT&T and T-Mobile reportedly abandoned their proposed $39 billion merger.

Free Press President and CEO Craig Aaron made the following statement:

"This deal has been as good as dead for months because the facts never matched AT&T's fabrications about the benefits of the merger. As the public, the Justice Department and the FCC long ago recognized — and now even AT&T must admit — this deal would have only meant higher prices, fewer choices and tens of thousands of lost American jobs. Good riddance. The Obama administration deserves praise and credit for standing up to AT&T's relentless lobbying and propaganda. And the American public can breathe a sigh of relief that this time the public interest trumped AT&T's self-serving attempt to kill off what little competition remains in the wireless market."