AT&T has announced a definitive agreement to buy Deutsche Telekom’s American T-Mobile subsidiary in a cash and stock deal worth about $39 billion, and giving the German carrier an 8 percent stake in AT&T…
T-Mobile and AT&T share similar GSM and UMTS/HSPA networks, and both are working to build new next generation networks using HSPA+ and LTE. However, obtaining the rights to radio spectrum and building out these networks is both expensive and complex.
AT&T’s chief executive Randall Stephenson said the deal “provides a fast, efficient and certain solution to the impending exhaustion of wireless spectrum in some markets, which limits both companies’ ability to meet the ongoing explosive demand for mobile broadband…”
T-Mobile adds 33.7 million subscribers to AT&T’s network of of about 95.5 million, creating a total of about 130 million users, and becoming the largest American carrier. The deal will also expand Apple’s iPhone to three of what were the top four US carriers, as Apple has already brought it to Verizon earlier this year.
RTFA for the details.
Here’s their press release.
Not a good deal for people that need phones that also work overseas. I don’t really want to join AT&T when I make the jump to GSM.
Goodbye to “Universal Service”.
sprint is screwed they were trying to buy T mobile so as to get back in the game. Sprints days are now numbered they are too small now to pay for the upgrades needed to compete with the broad band wireless connectivity that is being demanded by the public.
the question is will Verizon or ATT buy them .
Another set of layoff from T-Mobile expected due to the merger
/unwarranted speculation
If it wasn’t for the fact that I’m grandfathered in under T-Mobile, at least until the end of my contract, I’d be heading out right now. I hate AT&T with a passion, I will not use their service and the second my contract finishes, I’m leaving.
So much for 10+ years of brand loyalty.
Unfettered capitalism. It’s as bad as unfettered freedom.
Cephus: You’re preaching to the choir. I hated AT&T as well–too expensive, and lousy phone coverage. I guess I’ll be using Cricket for awhile, unless Verizon cuts its prices.
Lets see, now I will have.
1) Lower bandwidth caps
2) Horrible customer support
3) No no-contract plans
4) Higher prices
5) Worse service in metro areas
Great. Now my choices are ATT and Verizon. Both suck. As a 10 year subscriber of T-Mobile, I am now in big trouble. I may go Verizon just because ATT did this.
Several years ago, my company provided me a cell from AT&T. So many of us out in the field had issues with AT&T, they switched to Cingular. Cingular was great, gave us better billing, better coverage, and better customer service. The day AT&T bought Cingular and officially merged the two networks I happened to be looking at my phone went from saying “Cingular” to saying “AT&T. I dropped 3 bars of service and it never got better. That was in the NYC metro area, before the iPhone. I can’t imagine being one of their customers now. My girlfriend wants to go back to AT&T for some reason, but the only people I know who have AT&T is because they have iPhones. The ones that live in the city say they have great coverage now, but still frequently drop calls. Not sure if that’s a problem with the iPhone or the carrier but either way I am not looking forward to being an AT&T customer again. I seriously doubt they’ll be offering the same unlimited phone/data/text plan that’s less than most my friends pay for much more limited service.
1 mediocre + 1 mediocre = 1 expensive piece of crap
LTE, or more to the matter TD-LTE is the target. Putting well over 100Mb/sec wireless services across the continental USA without having to erect new cell towers, is a license to print money.
at&t the borg of telecom industry…
“Goodbye competition.” what competition? there is lousy service everywhere..
i’ve never seen competition in the phone industry.. just the same rotten deals to consumers. there is no REAL CHOICE..
NoOOooOoOoOO…
I’ve avoided AT&T since the 80’s.
customers service has always been lousy from the big 3, with the Death Star leading the pack. (well, ok.. maybe verizon sucks worse with the fine print)
T-mobile was the only carrier (along with Cricket) that did not archive call and text data on their throw away phones.
(due to the nature of the backbone they use)
-now everything will end up in that nefarious closet..
::sigh::
-s
I hope my TracFone service won’t get screwed.
Someone was asking about Sprint.
I just got rid of them.
Too expensive.
All I want is a phone that can be used as a phone. Nothing more, no call waiting, no call forwarding, no camera, no messaging, no texting, just a fucking phone.
Could AT&T be the death of mobile phones?
I think so.
Notice that AT&T’s corporate logo is the Death Star from Star Wars, and AT&T hasn’t gotten that in 20 years. That’s a clue.
Isn’t there regulators of some ilk that have to approve these deals. Just asking I’m Canadian.
# 10 Daniel – Cingular bought AT&T Wireless in the merger.
Who do I despise more: the Death Star or The Red GTE? That’s a tough call. Hell, this is like a Presidential election. Bonus; I’m sure AT&T overpaid for T-Mobile to kill Sprint which means rates will be more fantastic.
Damn it!
#18 Money changed hands.
The people who approved the deal most likely expect to get rewarded big time one way or another if the pay off hasn’t already occurred.
We’re screwed.
No way this deal will pass antitrust scrutiny. Cellular service has supplanted land lines and so has become an essential utility that must be protected from monopolistic practices (oligophy practices are bad enough as it is).
In #42 Joe said: “No way this deal will pass antitrust scrutiny.”
Bwahahaha.
The politicians, lawyers and judges go to one with the deepest pockets and the best contacts.
And as Microsoft proved in 2001 and 2002, you can even lose an antitrust suit and not have to give a damn.
Competition is a thing of the past and receding into dim and distant memory.
The oligarchs are tired of pretending.
It costs too much and the sixty of so families who really count don’t want their underlings to waste any more capital on this useless squabbling.
(Adam’s got his “Atlas Shrugged” (by Ayn Rand [née Alisa Zinov’yevna Rosenbaum, Oy vey is meir!, an Ashkenazi jew,]) and I’ve got The Unseen Hand by Ralph Epperson. {But I back it up with “The Collapse of Complex Societies” by Joseph A. Tainter. 🙂
So this is the company that has always had the suckiest service combined with the company the most ruthlessly screwed users(tell me you don’t know non-business types that had $300+/month t-mobile phone bills).
Wow…
Imagine if AT&T spent $39 billion improving their network.
Sorry. That was just silly. Never mind.
What ever happened to the government not allowing super-huge companies? they broke up Ma Bell in the 80’s, now they’re back together.
#27..
CORRECT..
Hmm, I wonder if they could improce 99% of the system to something even BETTER..
But, no…They want CONTROL.
I hope you all understand…YOU ARE STILL only covered by your OWN cellphone system. you ARNT using the others. 3 over lapping companies.
Buying up the other company is the ONLY way to hold them back. and NOT improve the system.
To improve the WHOLE system..you would need the TELCO, to reinstall Fiber optic along EVERY HIWAY/FREEWAY. the WHOLE of the internet and Cellphones REQUIRES the telco system. They have NOT setup their OWN backbones.
# 12 sargasso_c said, “100Mb/sec wireless services” I’ll believe that when I see it. But even if they do manage to ramp up the broadband speed, they’ll still stick you with a 2 GB cap!
Oh, well. Doens’t really matter to me except that on my infrequent visits back home, I’d always stop in at T-Mob and buy a pay as you go SIM card. No hassles, good service, fair rates. I might have to start buying burners…
This is great news for people here in the rural county of Oklahoma where I live. I am an AT&T customer with an iPhone, but they have terrible coverage here, one tower in the entire county. T-Mobile on the other hand, covers the entire county with seven towers and offers great service. So I have good hopes that this merger will provide us with good service for my iPhone as well as for other folks.