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SoftBank in talks to acquire T-Mobile

M

mattwallace24

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 25, 2010
180
8
Connecticut
Interesting...I wonder IF, and it's a big IF considering the need for US government approvals, SoftBank would continue their strategy of being the down-market, cheap, no-frills provider they are where they currently provide services.

Hopefully this network/customer integration would go better than Sprint's last attempts (i.e. Nextel).

Legere would probably get a very nice golden parachute for the work he did at T-Mobile.


http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE9BN0IZ20131225?irpc=932
 
Hopefully the FCC rejects it. I'd hate to see all the disruption T-Mobile caused in the wireless market this year get reversed by joining with Sprint.
 
There is so much that could go wrong with this merger. Tmobile and Sprint don't have a reputation for quality or following through on their promises.

What network would they keep up? CDMA or GSM?

How can they afford to run redundant CDMA/HSPA/LTE/GSM cell sites?
 
I think T-Mobile needs to be left alone. I'm actually amazed with how much T-Mobile has turned around in the past year.
 
If this does go through, they should be barred from buying any 600 mhz spectrum at the upcoming auction. Sprint and TMobile have so much unused spectrum.

Using the excuse that they are "smaller" shouldn't fly here. Sprint has already said tri-band LTE will be up. That is PCS/B41/800. Now add TMobile's AWS to that mix. That is 4 bands of LTE in most urban areas. On paper, that sounds industry-leading.

Of course, both carriers have proven to us that they can't be trusted when it comes to deployment. NV is hopelessly delayed and they're claiming 50-60 mbps peak speeds on Spark. Something AT&T and VZW have had for 2 years. TMobile is STILL deploying HSPA around the US (5 years+ now)
 
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Sprint eating T-Mobile? No. Big no-no, this will be the Sprint-Nextel disaster all over again. IMHO, government made a grave mistake when they blocked AT&T's bid for T-Mobile.

T-Mobile already leases lots of spectrum and towers from AT&T (specially in California). Aggregating all that spectrum would have surely helped users of both networks.
 
jav6454 said:
Sprint eating T-Mobile? No. Big no-no, this will be the Sprint-Nextel disaster all over again. IMHO, government made a grave mistake when they blocked AT&T's bid for T-Mobile.

T-Mobile already leases lots of spectrum and towers from AT&T (specially in California). Aggregating all that spectrum would have surely helped users of both networks.
Click to expand...

The network would've been better but we would all be paying well over $100 per month for capped data and lousy rate plans. AT&T buying them would've been the worst thing for telephone service in the US since the old Ma Bell.
 
CEmajr said:
The network would've been better but we would all be paying well over $100 per month for capped data and lousy rate plans. AT&T buying them would've been the worst thing for telephone service in the US since the old Ma Bell.
Click to expand...

That's where you are wrong. Back in the ye old days when there was only Ma Bell, today we have Vericrap, Sprint, and a slew of several local/regional operators.

They would have been enough to maintain AT&T on its feet. Simple. AT&T Next was going to happen, where T-Mobile did it or not. Same with DataShare plans.
 
jav6454 said:
That's where you are wrong. Back in the ye old days when there was only Ma Bell, today we have Vericrap, Sprint, and a slew of several local/regional operators.

They would have been enough to maintain AT&T on its feet. Simple. AT&T Next was going to happen, where T-Mobile did it or not. Same with DataShare plans.
Click to expand...

You're totally wrong if you think AT&T would've done Next, or any of their other reactionary moves of this year if not for T-Mobile.

Do you really think that with a GSM monopoly in tow and 30 million customers more than their nearest rival in Verizon, AT&T would have:

- Launched a good BYOD low-price option of AIO Wireless
- Launched AT&T Next to offer more frequent upgrades
- Lowered the MRC by $15 for customers who use Next (this one would definitely have never happened)
- Purchased LEAP Wireless to further strengthen their prepaid footprint

If you really think AT&T would've taken such moves that would have cut into their bottom line while they possessed a GSM monopoly then you're absolutely wrong about the way these carriers work. They don't do anything to benefit the consumer unless they have to or are pushed to do so by a competitor. There was no mention of phone financing or frequent upgrade programs among VZW, AT&T, or Sprint until T-Mobile took the risk and tested it on the market and the other 3 saw that it was working, and in the case of JUMP (the program that inspired Next), even making additional revenue. That's the way competition works my friend, not consolidation or monopolies. If you recall, AT&T and VZW even said they didn't think removing subsidies was going to work on the US consumer so they would watch T-Mobile and react if necessary. Well Next, Edge, and $15 off MRCs are their reactions so far. The only part that they were going to do this year regardless of T-Mobile was launch data sharing plans because those are more lucrative to the carrier rather than benefiting the consumer.
 
This looks like a nightmare waiting to happen. As it stands both networks are mostly garbage but I would give T-Mobile the EDGE (pun intended) for now. They would have a ton of spectrum, so much that I think the FCC would force them to sell some of it off and what will they do about the GSM and EVDO networks? It would be better if they converted everything to GSM but then again this is Sprint after all. Plus with how slowly Sprint does things, it wouldn't surprise me if it took them until 2020 to integrate with T-Mobile if they're allowed to buy them.

Honestly I don't even think it would get approve and Softbank would end up paying TMobile a large breakup fee like AT&T did. If anyone buys T-Mobile I think it should be Dish.
 
Only the FCC can stop Masayoshi Son I think, should he really intend to go through with this.

Son bought Sprint wth the intent to make Sprint the #1 carrier in America. We can all laugh at that (I do), but who knows what other plans Son has. Surely, he doesn't intend to have bought 80% of Sprint, spent billions, and then let Sprint just continue as it is with no return on his investement or time.

So, whatever happens is at Son's urging. Dan Hesse is now just doing what he's told. However this goes though it should be interesting.

Son is a man who once went into a Japanese government office demanding certain contracts be given to him. He threatened to light himself on fire in that office if he didn't get what he wanted - and he meant it.
 
If the deal goes through I would imagine they will keep them essentially separate until they can be brought together under an LTE umbrella. Converting T-Mobile users to CDMA or Sprint users to GSM seems to be a big waste of money for a relatively short time span of usage.
 
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