I still don't believe this. Germans take (or buy, if they have to), but never sell without an ulterior motive; it's not in their DNA. If the FCC allows it, I predict that AT&T will be German-owned within five years. With their strong Euro it will be very easy for them to increase their stake in AT&T.
Three things make T-Mo attractive to sell:
-Incompatible 3G frequencies may be more valuable for another function than mobile data.
-Significant 5-year marketing push has only allowed for survival, with a large percentage of their users focused on low-cost.
-Solid purchase price.
Getting a good stake in AT&T is a nice benefit, and eliminates much of the drain on their operations. I would like to see the WiFi and 1700MHz bands removed from the purchase, and sold off to a viable competitor for something else.
I'm not surprised to see Sen Klobuchar making a particular point of this; her home state of Minnesota stands to be particularly affected by the merger. Thanks to the huge 1900MHz network Aerial Communications built in MN in the 1990s prior to its merger with VoiceStream, T-Mobile's 1900 GSM network has broad coverage and goes deeply into rural areas in the state as well as blanketing metro regions. It's far more extensive in MN than ATT.
I only hope that politicians from states with less of a TMobile presence will nonetheless still take an interest. If this merger goes through as it is, we'll have two wireless networks in the US because Sprint won't have a chance as an independent and the likes of US Cellular and MetroPCS will be shopping for bids from Verizon. And that will mean big rate increases without much of a gain in service in return. We're already more expensive than we should be. This would be a giant step in the wrong direction.
If any further wireless consolidation is allowed, there ought to be a comprehensive plan that addresses the smaller firms as well as the national players.
I still don't believe this. Germans take (or buy, if they have to), but never sell without an ulterior motive; it's not in their DNA. If the FCC allows it, I predict that AT&T will be German-owned within five years. With their strong Euro it will be very easy for them to increase their stake in AT&T.
the deal of $ 39 billion is $ 24 billion cash and the rest is in ATT stock making the germans have over 50% of the company.
Comments
I still don't believe this. Germans take (or buy, if they have to), but never sell without an ulterior motive; it's not in their DNA. If the FCC allows it, I predict that AT&T will be German-owned within five years. With their strong Euro it will be very easy for them to increase their stake in AT&T.
Three things make T-Mo attractive to sell:
-Incompatible 3G frequencies may be more valuable for another function than mobile data.
-Significant 5-year marketing push has only allowed for survival, with a large percentage of their users focused on low-cost.
-Solid purchase price.
Getting a good stake in AT&T is a nice benefit, and eliminates much of the drain on their operations. I would like to see the WiFi and 1700MHz bands removed from the purchase, and sold off to a viable competitor for something else.
Did T-Mo give up on UMA?
I only hope that politicians from states with less of a TMobile presence will nonetheless still take an interest. If this merger goes through as it is, we'll have two wireless networks in the US because Sprint won't have a chance as an independent and the likes of US Cellular and MetroPCS will be shopping for bids from Verizon. And that will mean big rate increases without much of a gain in service in return. We're already more expensive than we should be. This would be a giant step in the wrong direction.
If any further wireless consolidation is allowed, there ought to be a comprehensive plan that addresses the smaller firms as well as the national players.
I still don't believe this. Germans take (or buy, if they have to), but never sell without an ulterior motive; it's not in their DNA. If the FCC allows it, I predict that AT&T will be German-owned within five years. With their strong Euro it will be very easy for them to increase their stake in AT&T.
the deal of $ 39 billion is $ 24 billion cash and the rest is in ATT stock making the germans have over 50% of the company.