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/

Holy crap that is a huge merger/purchase

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gport_tennis;718549 wrote:Holy crap that is a huge merger/purchase

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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.

They better not fuck with my plan

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).

Nah, Sprint will be fine.

(I hope!!!!!)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.........

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.