Gubernatorial campaign rivals, Democrat Jay Inslee and Republican Rob McKenna, may agree that the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger isn't a good idea, but striking a contrarian note, state Rep. Reuven Carlyle (D-36, Queen Anne, Ballard), is all for it.

Carlyle—who, if it were 1992, I'd call a Clinton-era moderate "New Democrat"--- published a guest opinion piece on business news site Xconomy this morning arguing that the combo of the cellular giants is a positive, inevitable step that will harness the capital and technology required to upgrade the the world's communications network.

Essentially, his point boils down to this: It's going to take gazillions of dollars to go the next level of telecom innovation; merging AT&T's bank account with T-Mobile's oughta do the trick. Never, however, does he explain why the combo would ramp up innovation. After all, isn't more competition, not less, the source of all the innovation that Carlyle is on about? And aren't monopolies the enemy of competition?

Here's what he does say:

The consolidation of the wireless industry is an inevitable march forward because creating the innovation and infrastructure of our connected, Web-based world requires capital, risk, investment and ideas. Government simply cannot pick winners and losers with such reckless abandon as to predict how tomorrow’s technology foundation will serve the public.

Wireless technology has thrived because the government has not aggressively regulated the industry. Despite the issues and ideas underlying consolidation that strike fear in some advocates’ hearts, not illegitimately, to halt the larger march forward would be a mistake.

Simply, in order for true mobile broadband to be deployed nationally and internationally—a service that will itself continue to transform access to applications of tomorrow—we need to recognize and fully acknowledge that expanding the infrastructure requires capital, investment, applications and constantly changing value for consumers.