AT&T To Acquire T-Mobile

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silverpig

silverpig

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
27,703
12
81
Press Release

DALLAS & BONN, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Deutsche Telekom AG (FWB: DTE) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which AT&T will acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom in a cash-and-stock transaction currently valued at approximately $39 billion. The agreement has been approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies.
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Hmm, so this will make AT&T the largest telecom in the US by a considerable margin. Sprint seems to always want to be merging, and I heard there were rumours of them going after T-Mobile too. Maybe they'll end up as part of Verizon.

I wonder what they'll do about the 3G-AWS network of T-Mobile, and if this means that we'll be more likely to see 3G-AWS versions of more phones now (iPhone etc). It could be good news for some of the newer AWS-only telecoms that have poor phone choices now.
 
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Infohawk

Lifer
Jan 12, 2002
17,844
1
0
The feds should look into blocking this. We can't just have 2 or 3 mobile carriers. We need more. When you get down to too few major operators you start to get collusion and the like.
 
silverpig

silverpig

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
27,703
12
81
Infohawk said:
The feds should look into blocking this. We can't just have 2 or 3 mobile carriers. We need more. When you get down to too few major operators you start to get collusion and the like.
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It's funny because AT&T used to have a monopoly and they were forcibly broken up. Now they're just acquiring everyone again.
 
Patranus

Patranus

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2007
9,280
0
0
Infohawk said:
The feds should look into blocking this. We can't just have 2 or 3 mobile carriers. We need more. When you get down to too few major operators you start to get collusion and the like.
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Then get a group of investors together and start your own mobile phone carrier.

People act like t-mobile is a major player. T-Mobile controls a whopping 9% of the mobile phone market.

This acquisition will take AT&Ts market share from 31% to 40% hardly putting AT&T into a monopoly when Verizon controls 33% of the market.
 
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Infohawk

Lifer
Jan 12, 2002
17,844
1
0
Patranus said:
Then get a group of investors together and start your own mobile phone carrier.

People act like t-mobile is a major player. T-Mobile controls a whopping 9% of the mobile phone market.

This acquisition will take AT&Ts market share from 31% to 40% hardly putting AT&T into a monopoly when Verizon controls 33% of the market.
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It may not be a monopoly but my point is that it is going to decrease competition in a fast-growing sector.
 
Schadenfroh

Schadenfroh

Elite Member
Mar 8, 2003
38,416
4
0
In other words, Deutsche Telekom just bought a near 10% slice of AT&T.

T-Mobile sucks anyway, switched from them to Verizon. Maybe merging them with AT&T can do their customers some good.

Odd when my T-Mobile phone had no service in my relative's subdivision in Orlando, FL. Not to mention being dead in a town across the river from the Kennedy Space Center.
 
JSt0rm

JSt0rm

Lifer
Sep 5, 2000
27,399
3,948
126
yeah this sucks for me.

I have a 3g iphone and was with at&t for the 2 year contract. I called them and said I was going to go to t-mobile because I can get a contract without the monthly subsidy of my iphone purchase. It doesnt make sense that I would continue to subsidize the purchase of my phone beyond the 2 year contract.

Hopefully they will keep t-mobile up for a while. This little business move by them could fuck me out of an additional $480 a year.
 
her209

her209

No Lifer
Oct 11, 2000
56,336
11
0
Infohawk said:
The feds should look into blocking this. We can't just have 2 or 3 mobile carriers. We need more. When you get down to too few major operators you start to get collusion and the like.
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You mean there wasn't collusion before? I'm referring to the carriers raising prices on voice+data plans within weeks of each other.
 
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Wreckem

Diamond Member
Sep 23, 2006
9,541
1,106
126
her209 said:
You mean there wasn't collusion before? I'm referring to the carriers raising prices on voice+data plans within weeks of each other.
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Thats not collusion. Thats just smart business.

The mobile spectrums are already overcrowded and only getting more so. There is only a limited amount. Cheap unlimited mobile broadband was never sustainable. We are in the beginning of a severe long term spectrum crunch.
 
rudeguy

rudeguy

Lifer
Dec 27, 2001
47,351
14
61
Motavian said:
Will I be able to continue using my prepaid T-mobile phone?
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it will be years before anything actually changes. Worst case is they give you a new phone and transfer you balance over to a new account.

I've been through 3 cell company mergers and prepaid is the easiest thing for them to fix. All the grandfathered rate plans, contractual commitments and behind the scenes workers are what actually changes.
 
wuliheron

wuliheron

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2011
3,536
0
0
I would write my congressman and demand they bring back Ma Bell, but by all accounts Ma Bell never died.
 
Lanyap

Lanyap

Elite Member
Dec 23, 2000
8,266
2,363
136
SBC can't run AT&T now. They will screw up T-Mobile like they did the other telcos they bought up. When SBC/AT&T bought out Bellsouth they brought their 20 year old IT processes with them to run the business. I have low usage cheap plan from T-Mobile that grandfathered from Mindspring and Powertel. I hope they don't change it.

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/el...umer-reports-cell-phone-survey-att-worst.html

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...es/cell-phone-service-cell-phone-services.htm
 
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Rainsford

Lifer
Apr 25, 2001
17,515
0
0
Patranus said:
Then get a group of investors together and start your own mobile phone carrier.

People act like t-mobile is a major player. T-Mobile controls a whopping 9% of the mobile phone market.

This acquisition will take AT&Ts market share from 31% to 40% hardly putting AT&T into a monopoly when Verizon controls 33% of the market.
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Who cares what percentage of the market T-Mobile controls? The point is that allowing consolidation means fewer choices for consumers, which isn't in our best interest. And it's worth noting that theories about capitalism work best when there is substantial competition. The models don't work so well with a handful of companies controlling the entire market.
 
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Rainsford

Lifer
Apr 25, 2001
17,515
0
0
Jaskalas said:
R.I.P T-Mobile, AT&T (SBC) will just gobble it up and produce more !@#$.
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What's interesting to me is that as far as I remember, ATT is regularly rated as the worst major mobile phone carrier in terms of call quality, reliability, customer service, etc, by sources like Consumer Reports. I wonder if they would even be in the position they were in if they hadn't managed to secure their exclusive deal with Apple for the iPhone. And for that matter, is the reason they're pushing for this deal now is that they no longer have a competitive advantage since losing the iPhone exclusivity to Verizon? The timing certainly seems interesting...
 
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