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Reports of a sudden collection of meetings between Metro PCS and three companies have brought speculation of a possible acquisition or merger in the works. It is said that the regional carrier could be trying to settle a deal with T-Mobile, Sprint (which we have heard of before) or even DISH Network; but what would this mean for us?
Is it even likely to happen? We have seen AT&T unsuccessfully trying to purchase T-Mobile, so how could a deal like this one ever go through? Well, there is a significant difference in any of these possible scenarios. These companies are not nearly as large as AT&T was (one of them is not even a phone carrier), and T-Mobile is significantly larger than Metro PCS.
If T-Mobile or Sprint manage to snatch Metro PCS up, the market would continue to be competitive as the 4 largest carriers would still exist. But of course, as Android fans we would hate to see any form of option going away. Metro PCS is still pretty large with about 10 million subscribers. Not to mention the company has been catering the affordable Android market like a boss.
The company is also not very behind in technology, offering 4G LTE and a good selection of devices. It would be a shame if one of the few alternatives to the big four disappears. You would be right to assume that no company is giving any comments or statements yet, but we would like to know how our readers feel about this.
Would you feel the same as most of us did during the AT&T/T-Mobile merger deal? Would you be more open to a possible acquisition from one of the 2 smaller carriers (T-Mobile and Sprint)? Hey, it just might give one of the companies the boost it needs to improve competition.
[Source: Bloomberg Via: PocketNow]
I don’t think TMo or Sprint acquiring Metro PCS would decrease competition. In fact, it would help create a viable competitor to the VZW/AT&T duopoly and imho would ultimately benefit consumers. Especially considering how consumer friendly TMo has been, with new truly unlimited data and I love their prepaid options.
That’s because they have no choice but to kiss consumers boots at the moment. Power and being on top does things to people. Put T-Mobile in At&t and Verizon’s shoes and your post would be very different. On topic I would want metro PCS to be left alone unless there is financial instability and an acquisition would save jobs.
I’d rather see it stick around… Let Metro live to fight another day. I think that Sprint and TMo are doing just fine without them.
Ummmmm…idk if you’re familiar with TMo’s/Sprint’s financial situations but…lets just say they’re not doing just fine. Like not at all.
I don’t think you are familiar with t-mo’s situation they are evermore progressing and continues to rake in good profit, Sprint on the other hand has a huge mess of a network and are losing money because of the iPhone
I don’t know why people assume incorrectly that T-Mobile is doing bad, if it’s because DT want to get rid of them, that’s most likely because CT is tired of dealing with our retarded set of rules and regulations that vary from the Fed and States, and the even from one town to another
Sprints service sucks in comparison to AT&T’s/Verizon’s and this could easily boost that which would mean more bandwidth for things like the iphone since that pretty much crippled the network that they had upgraded to right before the iphone launch. They had decent speeds and decent coverage at the point right after the network upgrades but before the bombardment of apple users. That was a good thing it put them up there with the likes of both AT&T and Verizon and if the acquisition of Metro PCS would put them back up there that would be a great thing indeed.
I think Sprint would totally benefit from this deal, I think it’d be awesome as a Sprint customer! I just think it’d be nice to keep choices out there for wireless carriers, you know?
I myself have A Boost Mobile Samsung Galaxy Prevail and my service stinks I am on 3g only about 1% of the time meaning I am stuck on edge most of the time. And if them acquiring Metro PCS would help get better coverage and speeds in my area I am all for it.
I definitely wouldn’t be averse to Tmo buying out metro pcs. :)
I just started thinking tho, since Metro is CDMA (and LTE now I guess), it might not be so easy for TMo to acquire/integrate/refarm their network. Reminds me of that whole Sprint/Nextel situation…
Iden still has better coverage in my area then Sprint’s CDMA service which stinks since Iden is old and outdated and Sprint is getting rid of it hopefully the great Iden coverage will mean great 4G LTE service when they start turning those iden towers into 4g towers.
Pretty sure most of metro is lte. sprint still makes more sense, but if it was to be acquired in the future, volte is already going to be set up and so compatibility may not be much of an issue.
LTE is just for data. They use CDMA for voice and where LTE isn’t available.
metro will have voice and data on their LTE network. thats what voLTE is. “voice over LTE”.
AT&T didn’t have too much trouble converting the divested Alltel areas from CDMA to UMTS, and Alltel didn’t even have a ready-to-use LTE network.
alltel did have a umts network though.
Alltel never had a UMTS network. They had a really unbelievably crappy 2G GSM network that barely ever worked, and as a result, AT&T didn’t use it. They just converted the CDMA network instead.
Doesn’t metro roam on sprint for nationwide coverage? If anything it would make sense for sprint to pick them up.
sprint finally got better since getting rid of nextel the company that killing sprint , i honestly dont think its good for sprint side cuz its going to cost money for sprint that it dont have because its still trying to build there new network vision and pay off apple , but it help sprint compete in the wireless division but on tmobile side i say no tmobile is going down the drain , so i think dish network should start its own cell phone company to bring more competetion specaully against
at&t and verizon!!!
As a PCS shareholder I stand to make some cash. As a cell phone user it’s not good the more competition the better prices on all carriers.
yeah but consumers also need more bandwidth and coverage.
The only compatible with Metro is Sprint network, T-Mobile has GSM and Metro has CDMA as Sprint network. I`m might be wrong!
I don’t think it’ll be another carrier. It could even be Google, considering their proposal to buy T-Mobile/Sprint would get swatted instantly. Maybe Google will buy them and sell the spectrum and customers to T-Mobile in exchange for full access to their network as a MVNO.
If the sale goes through , Sprint will/should be the buyer. CDMA And Sprint just fits. What will be interesting is to see how they will treat Metro. Using there LTE and towers is one thing but I would like them to keep Metro PCS just like Boost and Virgin. This is what i see them doing. Unlike AT&T, Sprint has kept there companies separate from Sprint and they continue to run them selves, remaining profitable. I’m Waiting to see how the GS3 will effect Metro PCS. If priced right they could make a killing.
Im okay with Sprint or Tmobile buying Metropcs as long as they keep unlimited data for the same price it is now or less. I dont want Dish to buy it since they nickel and dime for everything
Come on Sprint! Get’em!! We need this. This can only help give the LTE roll a boost!!
if sprint were to acquire metro, it would ADD to the competition, they would actually be of size to directly compete with verizon and ATT instead of the tiny third wheel
I think Sprint and T-Mobile should go in together and buy Metro.
As much I would love for Sprint to buy out Metro, they just do not have the funds to do it. They are running extremely low on funds as they have spent most of their reserves over the past few years to acquire the iPhone as well as roll out their new network vision plan.
I can’t see T-Mobile buying out Metro as DT seemingly wants nothing to do with T-Mo anymore. The only reason they are throwing a couple billion their way is to roll out a competitive 4G LTE network for their future expansion and so that they don’t fall from the top 4. There is no way that DT would spend the money in order to make T-Mobile bigger, as that would mainly make it impossible for them to get rid of the wireless provider. Also, I think T-Mobile is fine where they are as they probably have the best plan of attack on rolling out a 4G network: start with a technology that can be very easily implemented into the current system (HSPA+, which is available in A TON of markets) and then roll out the long term technology (LTE).
I guess Dish could buy them out, but I honestly don’t see why, doesn’t seem like it could benefit them that much right now.
DT will eventually break off T-Moobile US into a separate company and let them survive/die on their own. There’s no chance in hell any other cell company could buy T-Mobile, for anto competitive reasons of for lack of money, so since they are upgrading the network I don’t see them breaking away any time soon
if that happens I see prices rising
I think it would help Sprint a little more, Metro PCS has LTE in areas where Sprint have yet to reach. It would make there LTE rollout appear to be moving a little faster than what going on now. T-Mobile and Metro a bad match. HSPA network and a CDMA network doesn’t mix well for T-Mobile.
As a T-Mobile customer I’m excited about the future of T-Mobile. This makes it possible for T-Mobile to create a robust nationwide AWS LTE network, provide competitive 1900 MHZ coverage over GSM within 12 months and a jump start on their 700/1700 LTE network plans. I anticipate they will retain about 80% of the prepaid customers from Metro PCS after giving the MetroPCS customers the same type of incentives as AT&T did when they absorbed Alltell. T-Mobile has a robust prepaid lineup of very competitive devices. The only customers the’ll lose are the ones willing to pay more for better network coverage because T-mobile will be able to offer better device selection and better national coverage at about the same price. Metro PCS customers will be offered low and mid range devices if they for customers who wish to remain pre-paid and mid to high end devices for those willing to enter a contract at a very competitive price. Another big benefit is after the 1900 spectrum is converted to GSM and combined with T-Mobile’s current 1900 towers they will be completely compatible with AT&T devices and will be much more attractive to customers tired of paying a premium for AT&T. T-Mobile will be able to offer more high end devices because they won’t require smaller production runs with different radios to accommodate their AWS 3G network. They will be able to bring most any worldwide GSM phone on their network with a minimum of alteration,