AT&T Plans to Acquire T-Mobile USA for $39 Billion

Posted 03/20/2011 at 8:22pm | by Justin Kerr

AT&T If you thought the competitive landscape in the US wireless industry couldn’t get any worse, you’d be wrong. Today AT&T announced a landmark deal with Deusche Telekom AG to buy up T-Mobile USA for a whopping $39 billion dollars. The deal which works out to a mixture of cash and stock is being sold to the public as an attempt to improve the network quality for both carriers, while offering a “fast, efficient and certain solution to the impending exhaustion of wireless spectrum in certain markets”.

According to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson the merger will have an immediate impact on the coverage enjoyed by customers of both networks, and will help significantly with the roll out of LTE network capabilities in the future. AT&T claims as a result of the merge, they foresee a future where more than 294 million people in the US have access to LTE high speed data networks as a result of the combined wireless spectrum of both providers.

It is unknown at this point if the U.S. Government will give its final blessing to the deal, and AT&T will need the FCC’s approval to gain access to T-Mobile’s spectrum licenses. Analysis with MarketWire expressed doubt that the deal would ever clear through all the regulatory red tape, and described the current US wireless market as already being “highly concentrated”.

Only time will tell if a merger between the two companies will ultimately benefit customers, but the combining of wireless spectrum’s isn’t totally unheard of. In Canada Bell Mobility and TELUS combined efforts to build out a nationwide 3G network to help share the cost, however in this case both companies remained independent, and continue to compete for customers.

What do you think? Will the merger be blocked? And if not, will this benefit AT&T or consumers? Let us know in the comments below.

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StarWolf

March 21, 2011 at 5:17pm

Please for the love of gawd!!!! DONT LET THIS GO THROUGH!

qhoa1385

March 21, 2011 at 9:21am

oh hell no

Frellenwood

March 21, 2011 at 7:19am

hammer6556

March 21, 2011 at 4:43am

i had plan with a local carrier that got bought out by at&t, no one got grandfathered. you had to go in to the store and pick from at&t's plans and start your contract over or you were automatically put under contract of their choosing. either way, this deal will go through, telecom companies spend way too much money on lobbying our politicans for the government not to do what they want.

turbonutter

March 21, 2011 at 1:52am

I hope this doesn't come through, but sadly I think it will. Less competition is bad for everyone... except AT&T.

solidtran

March 21, 2011 at 1:10am

I HATE AT&T! WE ARE FOREVER ENEMIES!

is that clear enough FCC?

ddreese

March 20, 2011 at 11:19pm

You guys are worried about nothing. AT&T grandfathers in all existing plans and you can keep them if you want. The only time you would have to change plans is if they offer a new service that you would like to have but isn't compatible with your billing plan. That's perfectly acceptable. You wouldn't expect AT&T to grandfather you in at $40/month for LTE, would you? If so, then take your phone and blend it now, because you're too stupid to own one.

I suspect this will go through, but there will be a hella lot of conditions. Ultimately, GSM users will benefit greatly. Expect Verizon to sniff Sprint's butt next. I was fully expecting T-Mo and Sprint to tie the knot, to dig them both out of their respective holes. This was from left field.

big_montana

March 21, 2011 at 4:38am

I can only go by my personal experience with aTT. When Cingualr purchased ATT, they would not honor existing ATT contracts and we were given to February to switch to comparable Cingualr plan (Which would have doubled my bill). I ended up leaving ATT for Sprint (with no regrets). I can see the same thing happening here if the purchase is approved (a BIG if by the way).

tornato7

March 20, 2011 at 10:36pm

The combined companies should be called AT&T&T

spoonard

March 21, 2011 at 9:31am

I like AT&T-Mobile

Arlips

March 20, 2011 at 9:50pm

If this passes, I'm heading right to Sprint. You just know that AT&T's first order of business will be to get rid of T-mobile's true unlimited data plans. The only one left with a truly unlimited data plan will be Sprint, once Verizon changes over to their new tiered pricing/removal of true unlimited.

Sprint is about to take in lots and lots of new customers, if this comes to pass.

big_montana

March 21, 2011 at 4:41am

Hopefully, this does not pass FCC inspection and falls through. I did not see this coming, as the last I heard Sprint was in negotiations to purchase T-Mobile, and were also looking to switch their network from WiMax to LTE (which would have solved the network incompatibilities) because of their ongoing dispute with Clearwire.

nsvander

March 20, 2011 at 9:04pm

Well there goes my cheap data plan! I hope this merger goes belly up! It might be time to switch to Verizon, I refuse to have AT&T again. I left them 10 years ago because of shitty service and horrible billing cycle issues.

cj100570

March 20, 2011 at 8:55pm

There Goes The Neighborhood! T-Mobile customers can expect to pay higher bills but at least AT&T customers may finally be able to use their phones as phones now that the coverage will be increased.