AT&T to Purchase T-Mobile USA

• sherm03

  

  Wow. There have been rumors of T-Mobile getting sold off by Deutsche Telekom for years...but I did not think it would be AT&T buying them up.
  
  This puts Sprint in a bad position right now...
  
  http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/20/in-the-race-for-more-spectrum-att-is-acquiring-t-mobile-for-39-billion/
• gport_tennis

  Holy crap that is a huge merger/purchase
  
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• sherm03

  

  gport_tennis;718549 wrote:Holy crap that is a huge merger/purchase
  
  Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

  
  Yes it is. In terms of subscriber numbers...it puts AT&T ahead of Verizon. It will go a long way to help AT&T's network. And it puts Sprint in quite the hole.
• LJ

  

  They better not fuck with my plan
• gut

  It gives AT&T @12% more subscribers (which bring them up to @45% of the market), but what does it do for their footprint? VZW still pwns all in terms of coverage (and reliability).
• coyotes22

  

  Nah, Sprint will be fine.
  
  (I hope!!!!!)
• dlazz

  AT&T wasn't looking to increase their footprint. They wanted THE foothold on the GSM market. They get T-Mobiles other bands to deploy other technology as well.
  
  Honestly, I could see the FTC stepping in and saying no to this. It screams pro-monopoly behavior.
• sherm03

  

  gut;718628 wrote:It gives AT&T @12% more subscribers (which bring them up to @45% of the market), but what does it do for their footprint? VZW still pwns all in terms of coverage (and reliability).

  dlazz;719378 wrote:AT&T wasn't looking to increase their footprint. They wanted THE foothold on the GSM market. They get T-Mobiles other bands to deploy other technology as well.
  
  Honestly, I could see the FTC stepping in and saying no to this. It screams pro-monopoly behavior.

  It does help with the footprint because TMO has done a lot of work over the last year really strengthening their network and getting it ready for LTE. Their HSPA+ coverage is actually pretty solid. When you add that to what AT&T offers, it is a very good coverage area.
  
  Yes, AT&T will be the main choice for the GSM market. But I don't see them stopping this one. AT&T will be the only one to offer GSM products, but they are not the sole cell phone provider. There are two other major options for consumers, and TONS of regional carriers that operate on GSM. I don't see why this wouldn't go through, IMO.
• dlazz

  sherm03;719401 wrote:Yes, AT&T will be the main choice for the GSM market. But I don't see them stopping this one. AT&T will be the only one to offer GSM products, but they are not the sole cell phone provider. There are two other major options for consumers, and TONS of regional carriers that operate on GSM. I don't see why this wouldn't go through, IMO.

  
  I could see them stepping in and saying no. I'm fairly sure the government auctioned off certain frequencies to carriers and the carriers were limited to how many they could have. TMo getting bought up would be a "loophole" to get more frequencies.
• BCBulldog

  

  dlazz;719413 wrote:I could see them stepping in and saying no. I'm fairly sure the government auctioned off certain frequencies to carriers and the carriers were limited to how many they could have. TMo getting bought up would be a "loophole" to get more frequencies.

  
  Or maybe the FTC forces them to either sell some of the frequencies to other carriers or return them to the FCC for redistribution before they approve the sale. Regardless, unless Sprint makes a few huge steps forward in all facets of the mobile communications business or they are in big trouble.
• gut

  dlazz;719378 wrote:AT&T wasn't looking to increase their footprint. They wanted THE foothold on the GSM market. They get T-Mobiles other bands to deploy other technology as well.
  
  Honestly, I could see the FTC stepping in and saying no to this. It screams pro-monopoly behavior.

  
  My guess is they will have to divest some rights in areas where they have too much combined share. The other interesting question is this could go thru, but then VZW/Sprint probably couldn't as it would create a duopoly with nearly all the market.
• thavoice

  I know when Verizon purchased Alltell there were some places they were not allowed to get the alltell network and they auctioned off areas for the bandwith that verizon was not allowed to have because they already owned too much in those areas. I know ATT was looking for some places they didnt have coverage now...htey got some of them...and some they didnt.
  
  This may help ATT to expand their 4G network more quickly. Do not know where Tmobile has 4g in ohio but ATT was not scheduled to launch 4G in ohio until 2012 in the Cleveland and Cincy Markets.
• tsst_fballfan

  

  There will be divesting and a bunch of overlapping. Chances are they bought it for the customer base more than anything else.
• Polar Bear 73

  I just hope they don't get rid of the brunette in the pink dress in their commercials.
• thavoice

  Polar Bear 73;719932 wrote:I just hope they don't get rid of the brunette in the pink dress in their commercials.

  No doubt.....I think they can dress her a little bit with tigher clothes tho.........
• Polar Bear 73

  thavoice;719942 wrote:No doubt.....I think they can dress her a little bit with tigher clothes tho.........

  
  I don't know, I kind of like the loose flowing dress....I keep hoping for a gust of wind.
• OneBuckeye