
AT&T to Acquire T-Mobile USA for $39 Billion - ssclafani
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110320005040/en/ATT-Acquire-T-Mobile-USA-Deutsche-Telekom
======
cletus
It's a natural fit for AT&T to buy T-Mobile. They both 3G GSM (UMTS)
technology. T-Mobile is probably better in some key markets than AT&T, most
notably New York (City).

The one issue with T-Mobile is it uses the fairly nonstandard 1870 MHz
frequency. I don't know of any other carrier that does (anywhere). I assume
this is because AT&T has the rights to the more common frequencies in the
relevant markets? I wonder what technical and regulatory hurdles stand in
their way for switching T-Mobile infrastructure to also do the "standard"
frequencies.

Wireless really is a mess in the US. Europe and Australia have really
benefited from choosing one technology (GSM). In the US you pick your carrier
then pick your phone. Elsewhere you basically pick your phone then pick your
carrier. Don't like you carrier? Swap your SIM. Problem solved. The US really
suffers (from the consumer point of view) by this lack of carrier mobility.

It's my theory that US wireless is so expensive at least in part due to it
being the most balkanized market in the developed world (and possibly the
entire world).

I was hoping LTE would help alleviate this problem as it seemed to be on the
road map for 3 out of 4 of the carriers (all but Sprint). Now I guess it's
still 2 of 3. Sprint is still the odd man out with the (basically failed)
WiMax technology.

I can see this acquisition facing some serious regulatory and legislative
scrutiny.

~~~
bjelkeman-again
> Wireless really is a mess in the US. Europe and Australia have really
> benefited from choosing one technology (GSM).

How are pricing plans in the US when you are roaming beyond your state? I live
in Sweden, where I have a decently priced data and call plan.

However, as soon as I go outside of Sweden, which is a small country (9M
people), I have to pay roaming charges. I don't mind so much the call charges,
but they want €4/MB ($5.60/MB) for data. Which essentially means that I don't
use data roaming at all when out of town unless on Wifi, and I don't travel
much in Sweden. Ok, so I can get calls when I travel, but I hardly use the
phone for calls, I use it for the data access.

Yes, I can get another SIM, but then I have to tell everyone who may call me
that I have changed number for that week, which is not really workable.

~~~
maukdaddy
Hej! I'm vacationing in Sweden right now

My iPhone is roaming on telenor. AT&T wants to charge me $19.99 per MB for
data roaming here. Needless to say it turned it off and I'm using wifi when
available.

~~~
IgorPartola
That is an outrageous price. Still not as expensive as SMS (per bit of data),
but still...

------
dres
This is complete bullshit, and would give AT&T an effective monopoly on GSM
based wireless communications in a number of key markets. I say we
collectively work to lobby against this deal, as it will be bad for all of us
who are based in the US and looking to do ANYTHING in mobile. Imagine if Apple
had tried to get their iPhone AppStore arrangement in a single-GSM carrier
world?

It's 2011, folks. We can't let oppressive regimes have their way.

~~~
amock
Why does it matter that they're the only GSM provider? Why aren't other
technologies competition?

~~~
dangrossman
It matters because it increases the switching cost for anyone that wants to go
to a competitor. You can't bring your phone with you, so you MUST make an
upfront commitment of either buying a phone or signing a 2 year contract to
get the phone without an upfront cost. When there are multiple companies that
provide the network type your phone uses, you can move between them at no
cost.

~~~
tptacek
But with only two providers of GSM, you already have emerging cartel pricing
dynamics. It's not even as good as airlines (which are also somewhat
collusively pricied), where you usually have 5-6 choices for any trip.

More competition is good, but, from a pragmatic perspective, the loss in
competition (such as it is) might not outweigh the gain in efficiency for AT&T
and T-Mobile subs.

~~~
uxp
> But with only two providers of GSM, you already have emerging cartel pricing
> dynamics.

And people already complain about the fact that there are only 2 GSM providers
and 2 CDMA providers in the US. Your statement appears to me to be "I don't
understand why you are complaining, it's not much worse than what we already
have", but people already don't like what we have. This just makes it worse.
Between a rock and a hard place, I guess. I completely understand your point,
but slowly taking away options and freedoms to slowly turn a free and
complacent consumer base into a single group under control of one entity is
not a cool thing to do. Look at the current political debate over wiretaps and
the PATRIOT act, it's the same idea.

Our choices as consumers and citizens are slowly being whittled away and no
one gives a shit because "It won't be much worse than what we already have."

~~~
tptacek
We don't have a small number of wireless providers because of some collusive
conspiracy. We have a small number of wireless providers because it costs
billions of dollars to create nationwide wireless networks in a country the
size of the United States.

I completely understand your frustration at having to choose between two
goliath companies for wireless access that works when you get off the plane no
matter where you fly. But them's the breaks. What you really want isn't some
legal action that increases to 3 from 2 our number of options; what you want
is a technological improvement to reduce the cost of providing nationwide
wireless access. You can, seriously, go work on that and maybe get somewhere.

~~~
uxp
Right. It's not the best situation to have one or the other. More would be
great in an ideal world, but we have this right now and until you or I can
deploy a wide wireless GSM network for a few grand nothing will change.

I was commenting on your point that it's not that big of a deal for AT&T to
acquire T-Mobile. It is a big deal because, why it may not be easy (or in fact
possible) to stick a third carrier in the middle of this in a completely
hypothetical scenario, combining the two carriers in a real life, AT&T just
announced it was planning on doing just that scenario is not good for
consumers. It is worse than the already less than ideal situation we have
right now.

~~~
tptacek
I am saying that despite people's concerns that consolidation in the wireless
market will allow AT&T to abuse customers, the wireless market is already so
intrinsically consolidated due to capital requirements for entry that AT&T was
already asymptotically close to the maximal level of customer abuse it could
inflict. This is similar to the argument security people have about the
"Microsoft monoculture", as if 2-3 more operating systems were going to be
anything more than a speed bump to attackers. One is a monopoly. 2-5 is still
a cartel.

------
epall
T-Mobile customer service has consistently been one of the best customer
service lines I have ever dealt with. Back when I had a Sidekick, I would
routinely end up connected to a Danger employee sitting _at_ Danger HQ,
helping me through teething issues on the early Sidekicks. For over five
years, they have been extremely polite, helpful, and available.

From what I've heard, I won't get this kind of service as an AT&T customer.
I'm sad to see T-Mobile go, but this merger always was kind of on the horizon.

~~~
whyenot
This makes me sad. TMobile has the best (least restrictive, least expensive)
prepaid plan of all the major carriers. AT&T has one of the worst.

~~~
js2
Yep. $100 for 1000 minutes with a 15% bonus on the next refill, 1 year
expiration.

For folks who hardly ever use their voice minutes, nothing else even comes
close.

Grrr.

(Well, there's Virgin Mobile, but they have almost no network -- I think it's
Sprint w/o any roaming onto Verizon.)

~~~
dagar
Actually at&t prepaid is about the same. $100, 10 cents/minute, 1 year
expiration = 1000 minutes

~~~
js2
No 15% bonus, text messaging is twice the cost, and I don't see any way to
purchase just a SIM card a la T-Mobile:

[http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/Phones/cell-phone-
detail.aspx?c...](http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/Phones/cell-phone-
detail.aspx?class=prepaid&cell-phone=Prepaid-T-Mobile-SIM-Activation-Kit)

It looks like the cheapest you can get in is with the $15 R225.

But, it's a lot better than what they had when I last shopped for prepaid.

------
plusbryan
Oh crap. There goes my unlimited tethering.

~~~
dazzla
I'm really going to miss T-Mobile policy's like unlimited tethering and
cheaper plans with no contract. This is a real shame. Maybe its time to get a
contract to be grandfarthered in? A T-Mobile contract on the larger AT&T
network may not be so bad.

Edit: I forgot to mention the no fee for tethering or hotspot. I use that
enough for it to be very helpful but not to pay an additional fee.

~~~
mgcross
Have you checked out Simple Mobile (<http://www.mysimplemobile.com> )? Cheap,
but the CS gets horrible marks.

------
yurylifshits
Spectrum is the real problem. There is just not enough space for 3-4 LTE
providers in addition to all existing GSM/CDMA carriers. We are solving this
problem in Russia too, but with a different solution. One carrier (Yota) is
building a shared network of LTE base stations and allows all carriers to sell
it. Other carriers have the option to buy 20% of Yota five years down the
road. Also, Yota agrees to stop being a carrier itself by that time. It's like
energy grid, GPS sattelites or highway system. You better have just one
utility and regulate it well.

~~~
maayank
"You better have just one utility and regulate it well."

[citation needed]

------
johnohara
My AT&T service has three (3) main features, call waiting, call forwarding,
and call dropping. Of those, the third feature works best.

Oh, and unrelenting robo-reminders. Those calls never drop and they always
leave a message.

------
zavulon
I guess I don't understand how anti-trust laws work. Didn't they break up "Ma
Bell" a few years ago specifically to prevent monopolies? And since then, AT&T
bought Cingular, now T-Mobile, and they pretty much have a monopoly on GSM, if
not on all mobile phones.

~~~
natnat
Anti-trust laws are enforced when and only when the political pressure from
people who feel like they're being abused by a monopoly exceeds the political
pressure from that monopoly's lobbyists.

------
alecperkins
Awesome. Now the US will have an even more competitive wireless market,
(seriously: which is exactly what is necessary). I'm sure the wireless plans
will only get better.

edit: /sarcasm, obviously.

~~~
ugh
Is that sarcasm?

~~~
alecperkins
It was supposed to be. Looks like it may have not come across completely.
Should've known better.

~~~
mirkules
Whoever figures out a way to convey sarcasm in text is going to make
_billions_

~~~
jedsmith
_In certain Ethiopic languages, sarcasm and unreal phrases are indicated at
the end of a sentence with a sarcasm mark called temherte slaqî or temherte
slaq (U+00A1) (¡), a character that looks like the inverted exclamation
point._ [1]

Make the check out to my name.

[1]:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony_punctuation#Temherte_slaq...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony_punctuation#Temherte_slaq.C3.AE)

~~~
mirkules
"Make the check out to my name."

I was being sarcastic.

~~~
jedsmith
I wasn't. ¡

------
Cherian_Abraham
What does this mean to the T-mobile 4G ads with the cute girl from T-mobile
and the Young guy (iPhone) with the AT&T network on his back? Awkward....

------
miah_
I will not give AT&T my money. As a happy T-Mobile user I am strongly against
this purchase. I really hate that the US Cellular system is split by Wireless
technologies and that my only options for GSM are basically AT&T and T-Mobile.
Where will I go? Credo is great, but my phone isn't based on CDMA and I don't
want to switch phones just because I switched vendors.

------
greattypo
From Friday's HN post "Confessions of an Apple Store Employee":

    
    
      "We usually have to tell them that if they unlock their iPhone, it won't work. That 
      it's going to be like a $700 paperweight, and that the antenna will fry itself 
      on T-Mobile. Of course, that's not true, but that's what we tell them."
    

Wonder how quickly their tune on that last part will change..

~~~
Legion
The whole thing will change - because what GSM provider in the US are they
going to worry about people unlocking and switching to?

The release says this will "enhance [AT&T's] network capacity". That means
T-Mobile isn't likely to exist as a separate thing that's just owned by AT&T.
It's pretty certain to be rolled directly into AT&T. It's Cingular 2.0.

~~~
tptacek
... which is probably a good thing, from an efficiency standpoint.

~~~
nickbp
Using that reasoning, so is a dictatorship.

~~~
tptacek
"Dictators are efficient. Therefore, all efficiency is tyranny". Got it! :)

------
cheald
Ugh. This might finally get me to leave T-mobile. I left ATT after a horrible
experience and vowed to never go back. I am not happy.

~~~
abhiyerra
I just moved to Verizon from T-mobile yesterday after frustration with
T-mobile's service. And I loathe AT&T.

The nice thing about T-mobile is it is/was the only company which charges less
if you didn't have a contract.

~~~
cheald
I have loved T-Mobile for the 5-odd years I've been on them, after terrible
experiences with Sprint and AT&T. I'll be moving to Verizon, but I've heard
plenty of horror stories about them, too, and I won't be able to take my GSM
Nexus One with me, which is a crying shame.

------
sev
T-mobile has an excellent policy of easily unlocking phones if you just call
and ask. In the worst case they make you wait 3 months into your contract
before they do. This policy will be missed.

------
jmspring
For the longest time when AT&T bought Cingular, plans that were entered into
under Cingular were allowed to continue under AT&T on the same terms. Given
how long ago this was, I didn't have data, so I can't speak to what would have
happened with a voice/data plan.

However, I can see the same thing not happening with this deal. AT&T really is
the antithesis of T-Mo in terms of pricing, flexibility, and customer service.

I've got both (an iPhone and a Nexus One). While 3G coverage is not as readily
available on T-Mo as it is on AT&T, there have certainly been many times when
it has been more reliable in call quality and drops.

The only upside to this? It is very likely the US will end up with unified GSM
frequencies. We will see.

Seriously not looking forward to this.

~~~
MatthewPhillips
They likely won't take away your plan (and if they tried you'd have the
ability to terminate your contract). All carriers have a policy of
grandfathering in existing plans when they change theirs (as they did, for
example, when they eliminated unlimited data last year). Of course that means
you can't get a new phone or change a plan details without submitting to the
new terms. If you're willing to live with that, it can be beneficial. Some
people are on 5 year old plans and paying $10 or less for unlimited data.
Carriers know this, and put up with it because they know the vast majority of
their customers are going to re-up the contract regularly.

------
melvinram
My main questions as a T-Mobile custoemr:

1\. Will I be able to keep the same plan I'm on now? I'm assuming the answer
is yes unless I make any changes, at which point they'll try to force me into
a new AT&T, which will suck.

2\. When can I buy an iPhone for use on my T-Mobile plan? This will still
probably a good year away, though I hope it'll be faster.

------
meemo
Only three big companies. There's got to be a point when these mergers hurt
competition. I like T-Mobile because it offers cheaper postpaid plans without
a contract. I don't think AT&T offers these and their plans are generally more
expensive.

------
grammr
My mom is a pretty senior manager at T-Mobile, so when I first read this post
I texted her about the acquisition. She said that there were rumors in the
company that Sprint was trying to buy them, but she had heard nothing about
the AT&T acquisition. Five minutes later she got the news break from the CEO.
HN ftw.

------
rhizome
That's right, Americans: take it and like it. Voting with your wallet may not
be as foolproof a plan as previously asserted.

------
ajays
Now all we need is for Verizon and ATT to merge, and Ma Bell will be
reincarnated.

------
Osiris
Are there any chipsets out there that could support both AT&T (1900) and
T-mobile 3G (1700) frequencies? Since one of the main reasons for the merger
is for spectrum, it seems that AT&T must be planning on utilizing T-mobile's
spectrum in the future to improve reach and reliability, so it would make
sense for them to provide phones that support both frequencies.

~~~
rbranson
All of the T-Mo 3G phones are 850/1700/1900/2100.

~~~
SeanLuke
I believe this is incorrect.

Many T-mobile phones support old GSM (EDGE) on 850, 900, 1800, and 1900, which
overlaps with AT&T. But UMTS (3G) support is on bands 1700 and 2100, neither
of which AT&T uses. 2100 is common in Europe.

------
nextparadigms
I don't think this is a good idea for customers. Even Sprint acquiring
T-mobile is a bad idea, but this is much worse. At least with Sprint buying
T-mobile you'd have 3 equal sized companies, but in this case, I wouldn't be
surprised if Sprint eventually gets bought by Verizon, and then Americans will
really be in trouble.

~~~
gonzopancho
Who is to say that Sprint won't get acquired by AT&T?

~~~
prakashk
That would be unlikely (or at least, less likely) considering that Sprint uses
CDMA, while AT&T uses GSM. T-Mobile's network would be easier for AT&T to
integrate.

------
joe_the_user
Marvelous...

We have a company leveraging their government-granted-duopoly in the broadband
marketplace to strengthen its market share in a closely related market (mobile
phones). It's a good move for them ... They're stretching their net and once
it's across the whole Internet, get ready to pay some real rent...

------
pat2man
And then there were three...

~~~
sachinag
I don't think this is fair. MetroPCS has their own towers and is a pretty
robust national carrier. Leap/Cricket also has a pretty broad footprint.

~~~
getsat
Too bad MetroPCS is not GSM. :(

------
ck2
This should not be allowed to happen if there is any kind of regulation
oversight at all left in this country.

------
jamesbritt
I don't want to do business with a company that so willingly spied on American
citizens. I just renewed a contract on T-Mobile. Now I need to see if I can
get out with no penalty, and see who is left to send my business.

~~~
count
FYI, Tmob is a defendant named in the EFF suit for illegal wiretapping, along
with Verizon and _every other major carrier_ except Qwest.

~~~
jamesbritt
Well, they could be lying, but T-mobile has claimed that they did not
participate in the NSA program.

[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12745304/ns/technology_and_scien...](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12745304/ns/technology_and_science-
security/)

Meanwhile AT&T was up front about rolling over.

Since any telco can legally lie about this, I'm curious why T-Mobile was later
added to the initial suit while Qwest was not. I looked around the EFF site
but got tired of poking through PDFs and not finding anything to explain that.

~~~
count
Joe Nacchio (former Qwest CEO) says Qwest refused to comply and spy on behalf
of the NSA, and that cost them contracts:
[http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071013/news_1n13ns...](http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071013/news_1n13nsa.html)

Granted, he's been convicted of insider trading and may be a biased source,
but I'd say it's a good indicator that Qwest isn't named as a defendant in the
EFF suits.

~~~
jamesbritt
T-mobile issued a similar statement, that they did not participate and did not
turn over any records. No mention of losing contracts over it.

Hell, maybe AT&T wants to buy T-Mobile to ensure everyone gets spied on
equally. Look for an attempt to buy Qwest next. :)

------
b3b0p
We were Cingular customers, then AT&T bought them. It was the only wireless
carrier that offered a good signal where we lived. Slowly over some time after
that happened, the signal started to get worse and come and go like with the
other carriers we tried previously.

I'm not sure I'm trying to make a point, but I do not know what AT&T did with
the Cingular. Did it use it's network? Did they just engulf it to remove the
competition? Maybe someone else more knowledgable of this ordeal knows.

How will AT&T use T-Mobile after they acquire them? What becomes of the
T-Mobile network that will soon by AT&T's network?

------
Hawramani
In one way this is terrible. And yet, I'm thinking if the situation gets bad
enough, we'll finally see some changes that will forever dethrone these
oppressors.

I'm thinking of a data-only phone that puts all of these evil companies out of
the equation. All you need to provide data is wireless hotspots, and this can
be done by small companies.

The only problem is who owns the fast fiberoptics. These fictional small
companies could create a cooperative where they all work together to create
their own infrastructure. It has worked for the organic food industry (Organic
Valley).

------
suninwinter
I wonder if this means that the percentage of Android phones that can't
sideload direct from the carrier is going to go up. From what I understand,
T-mobile doesn't block that, but AT&T does.

~~~
nickbp
AT&T also blocks installation of non-market software on their Android phones,
so if you wanted to install a recent build of ConnectBot or whatever, you were
SOL. That is, unless your phone can be rooted/reimaged.

------
tzm
"No matter how many pieces you break it into, it always comes back together"

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsCp-1hgfxI>

------
dnautics
This is terrible. I've had T-Mobile for 3 years now, and although I had
terrible reception sometimes (granted expecting reception in an underground
laboratory might not be so reasonable, but my sprint friends had it), the
customer service and voice plans were A+.

ATT screwed me seven years ago and I vowed never to take their business again
(from what I hear their customer service is still not much better), so I guess
if this goes through it's goodbye T-Mobile.

------
iamdave
NOOOOOO.

------
marques
I wonder how AT&T acquiring T-Mobile is going to affect Mobile Marketing
companies in the US. Will Mobile Marketing companies be required to abide by
T-Mobile's double Opt-In software policy or will AT&T keep its own Opt In
policy which doesn't require a double Opt In for SMS subscribers? This should
be interesting to see how this merger unfolds over the next 12 months.

------
wfoster4
I might be in the minority but I just don't see this as a good deal. It
reminds me of when Wachovia bought Golden West in a forced effort to seek
growth.

ATT's stated desire to catch up to Verizon while losing customers seems like
an internal issue that just can't be bought away.

On a personal note. I left Sprint for Nextel years ago to see it bought. And I
left ATT in November for T-Mobile and well....

------
mwdev
Someone at sprint is getting fired. Were they not just in the news talking
about a network share with T-mobile?

------
jwcacces
Well, there goes my great rate, my unlimited data, and the great customer
service.

At least I can look forward to a larger bill.

------
henryw
Hopefully AT&T customer will have better coverage now. 1 out of 3 calls gets
dropped from where I live.

------
danielayele
Does anyone know if either the DOJ or the FTC have approved this?

ed: FCC approval is probably kind of important too...

~~~
miah_
Consider how much the large telecoms in the US fund our politicians. I'm sure
this will go through without a hitch. Sadly :(

------
bluegene
This is a sad news for consumers and AT&T's competitors especially smaller
players like Sprint

------
superdude
This is bad. In terms of freedom, T-Mobile was the only large carrier to
oppose warrant-less wiretapping of Americans. In terms of cost, T-Mobile
offered the best non-contract prices, and I could use my Nexus One or iPhone
on their network for a reasonable price.

------
mrinterweb
I guess this means that I am going to have to switch to Sprint. I really like
T-Mobile. They are a great company and I loved their service and pricing. It
is going to be sad to not have T-Mobile in the states anymore.

------
kin
This is devastating news to me. With TMO, my sister and I can add on my
parents for free, get unlimited tethering, and unlimited family texting for
$10. Knowing AT&T, I probably won't be able to keep this plan.

------
asnyder
As a new T-Mobile customer who recently switched from AT&T this saddens me. I
finally thought I found a decent provider with their Even More Plus plans. So
much for choice and competition.

------
HaloZero
Maybe I'll finally get a proper 3G signal in San Francisco now... Does anybody
know the quality of T-Mobile's 3G Network in major cities?

~~~
megaframe
T-Mobile 3G in San Francisco is fairly good. I tether with it all the time,
but T-Mobile uses a different frequency for their 3G so your AT&T phone can
hop onto T-Mobile Edge network but not 3G, unfortunately. Same thing in the
other direction. I don't think any manufacturers make phones that can do both
frequencies for 3G.

------
techsupporter
I wonder how they're going to harmonize all those 1700MHz-based (AWS band?) 3G
phones that T-Mobile currently carries.

------
credo
imo AT&T's exclusive iPhone deal was one of the reasons for T-Mobile's gradual
decline.

So it probably wouldn't be a stretch to say that Apple played a role (albeit
unintentional) in this acquisition.

~~~
gonzopancho
By this logic, Sprint is now in a pickle.

------
olegious
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

------
dbuizert
I was waiting for this to happen. TMUSA is such a weird egg in the basket
considering it is totally different then the TMEU.

------
mmatador22
it's a sad, sad day for the wireless industry and an even sadder day for us
consumers...

------
beedogs
The US is slowly inching its way back toward telco monopoly.

Bravo!

------
watchpickwin
Good news for our YC project!

------
nhangen
ATT is damned if they do, and damned if they don't.

~~~
rhizome
Whenever have they don't-ed?

~~~
nhangen
They get blasted daily for not building their network.

