By 
AT&T and T-Mobile have called off talks of a merger after some serious federal opposition, but there is still some unfinished business left to attend to. As repayment for the failure to close on a deal, AT&T owes a sum of $3 billion to T-Mobile’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom. TMo will see none of that cash. Their reparation comes in the form of an expanded network via new AWS spectrum in 128 markets and a UMTS roaming deal that will increase customer reach from the current 230 million to a projected 280 million. Of the markets covered in the newly awarded radio space, 12 are ranked in the top 20.
While AT&T was unable to acquire T-Mobile, the network expansions it will provide will in its own way meet the original deal’s intention to provide greater mobile access for more Americans. The end result sounds like a win for both T-Mobile and wireless consumers, though its effect on AT&T’s future plans is unclear at this time.
[Duetsche Telekom via Engadget]
WIN
maybe tmo will get the galaxy nexus now or at least a new high eld phone other then an HTC with the damn snap dragon Soc
Sooo….AT&T basically got pooped on and received no benefit from any of this?
Sweet justice!!!
Now that pos company sprint may get tmobile . And thats OK??
It’s more than ok, it’s brilliant!
Seriously though, the merger would be between two companies with two very different strategies (HSPA+ in some areas, EDGE everywhere else vs. EVDO and LTE in most areas) to address a similar target market.
It’s quite ok actually. AT&T and Verizon pretty much run things right now. They can do whatever they want. A Sprint/T-Mobile merger would introduce a 3rd major player and break the duopoly that VZW and AT&T basically have right now. Increased competition is always good.
Riiiight… AT&T with all their resources wasn’t able to do it.. and Sprint lobbied against it.. There is no way they would have better luck with the government.. not to mention there are a lot of technological hurdles to overcome. GSM vs CDMA .. I wish people in both the Sprint and T Mobile camp would stop thinking like Verizon fanboyz.. You don’t have to be the biggest to be good.. T Mobile is good for many people.. Sprint is good for many people… I could give a crap who has the most customers, doesn’t make me want to switch one bit.
Why not take T Mobil public?
Who would buy shares of it?
As long as the buyers are not Sprint, Verizon, or AT&T, we get to keep the status quo of 4 major carriers.
I am happy this went boom… It’s about time someone listened.
Wonder if this was planned all along for a deal down the road?
The news is sprint will get tmobile..stupidity wins
Wow. Actually written like a legit piece of journalism. Good going phandroid. This is much better than the opinion-heavy bashing and name-calling I’ve grown to expect.
Agreed MWFish…
it still aint goin’ to cure att’s crappy coverage in 38221