AT&T has just announced a deal to purchase T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom in a cash and stock deal worth $39 billion. The deal will make AT&T the nation’s largest wireless carrier by a wide margin – so it will probably face significant government scrutiny, and AT&T could have to make some big concession – or the deal could be blocked completely since last year was the first year that the FCC did not conclude the U.S. wireless industry as “competitive.”
There had been reports that Spring, the no. 3 biggest carrier, was looking at buying T-Mobile, but obviously AT&T has made a better offer and now it is possible that Sprint is bought out by Verizon, Comcast, or someone else.
T-Mobile customers would benefit because they would now have access to LTE wireless — true 4G — and potentially faster access to Apple’s iPhone. Combining the two corporations makes more sense technically as well as the companies share a common wireless technology, while T-Mobile and Sprint use different technologies.
TmoNews obtained a copy of Deutsche Telekom’s press release regarding the deal and it looks like the German company will be getting $25 billion in cash and $14 billion in stock – giving it an 8 percent stake in AT&T.
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