With
T-Mobile UK and Orange now having to (potentially) learn to play nice, Deutsche Telekom is already looking ahead to its next big target:
Sprint Nextel. According to a
Telegraph report, the telecom giant, with an estimated value of $60.45 billion, has called in advisers from Deutsche Bank as it reportedly prepares to submit an offer to the $10.6 billion-valued Now Network within the next three weeks. The assimilation of Sprint and Deutsche Telekom subsidiary T-Mobile US under the same umbrella could give second-place AT&T a fight with a 78.2 million-strong customer base... but that said, we wouldn't anticipate any quick or smooth merger given the US carriers rely on substantially different bands (CDMA vs. GSM) for service. Hey, there's always WiMAX might come into play. Obviously there's a lot of unanswered questions here, but at this point it's all speculation given no actual offer has been thrown on the table -- and we bet
Hesse will have some choice words on the matter. Keep an eye out on this one, things could very quickly get very, very interesting here.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
posted September 13th 2009 5:19PM
That would be nice... all android devices on the same cairyer?
Eye Eye, Cairyer.
I believe it's spelled douche.
How cute. The two last place providers (Sprint and T-Mobile) have to merge because the big CDMA and big GSM carriers (Verizon and AT&T) are killing them.
Would be nice to have Android and Pre on a real network, like Verizon or AT&T.
With the FCC currently investigating all major US carriers for anticompetitive practices, will further consolidation really be allowed?
Still, something needs to happen to Sprint. It'll be fun to watch...
If I'm not mistaken the last time talk of Deutsche Telekom (or any foreign company for that matter) controlling such a large piece of our telecommunications infrastructure there was also talk of some laws on the books that our government would cite to block such an acquisition. Then again the head of our government (through his actions, words, and ideas) appears to himself be the head of some foreign outfit.
Yep @Dave. Don't you wish Obama was as "American" as W? Dave=FAIL
Ugh, I hope now. It seems like Sprint is FINALLY getting their crap together. Pre, Android, unlimited to all mobiles. I'm afraid they'll get bought out and all that will disappear. That or they'll stop progressing at the speed they are. It took them a LONG time to come as far as they've come.
This give them the final piece of the the puzzle: industry-leading customer service.
I know a lot of people will could come on here with CS horror stories from the t-mob, but there's a reason they've been stacking JD Power awards for customer service.
If they do this, and move manufacturers to make wi-max/evdo/gsm phones they could have something going.
Don't worry; this "report" comes from the Telegraph. It's as reputable as a blog.
If you actually read to article, you will see words like:
"T-Mobile and Orange are expected to..."
"DT will probably..."
"It is understood that DT has been..."
"It is thought DT will also..."
"DT, Sprint and Deutsche Bank all refused to comment."
These are just rumors and speculation. There is no news here.
@ drumwiz86
youre right, there ARE horror stories about TMobile, and im sure they only won JDP&A surveys is due ot other CS being even more awful. When I requested to speak to a supervisor due to rude CS.. the CSR actually did laugh and tell me Tmobile won some worthless JDPA award. never going back.
I worked at an outsourced customer service center for Sprint ... then we were turned into a T-Mobile center. I left shortly after that, but everyone there was an idiot, and I'm not surprised that people had such horrible complaints about Sprint considering the low threshold for hiring.
It's always (tele)kom before the storm. Let Deutsche Telekom buy-up Sprint Nextel and turn that loser over. Sprint had a history of poor management decisions. The Germans will fix-it for us now.
Customer service my butt...I left T-mobile because a CSR basically started yelling on the phone at me and threatening to hang up. The utterly worst service I've ever gotten-their goof up and they have the gall to be yelling at me and threatening to hang up on customers? Seriously T-mobile and their lawsuit happy pink bullcrap can go shove it. And if T-mobile buys Sprint I guess I'd be forced to switch carriers because I absolutely refuse to be a T-mobile customer ever, ever, ever, again.
Tony:
"Don't worry; this "report" comes from the Telegraph. It's as reputable as a blog."
Some funny thinking there "tony"...
@ Dana: Apparently you have the same level of confidence in German management as Vince "The Germans Always Make Good Stuff" Offer.:)
HA. As if the merger of Sprint with Nextel wasn't complicated enough. A GSM/iDen/CDMA network would be one massive clusterfuck.
“IF” this happens, it will be like peeling back the worthless old CDMA network layers like an artichoke to get to the “magic middle” the subscriber base. Problem is like an artichoke there is no magic in the middle since Sprint subs generate some of the lowest ARPU. That plus what “Scooby” say above.
PS If DB is willing to give a low-ball offer (since they will have to gut and transition the network to GSM/LTE) then I can see it. Besides, aren’t DB’s pockets Deeeeep?
Agreed. I think it's very telling that the arrow in the picture is pointing straight at a discarded cigarette butt, stuck in the cracks of the sidewalk. This whole attempt at further cell market consolidation is just disgusting.
T-Sproble!
But yeah, GSM + CDMA + iDEN + WiMAX? And maybe LTE too? Good luck, Deutsche Telekom... you're going to need it.
I think the idea is to gain access to additional resources in order to accelerate the rollout of WiMax.
TMO still hasn't gotten 3G rolled out properly, so if they partner with Sprint then they can just skip 3G and go straight to using and expanding Sprints WiMax network.
The consolidation is an issue, but then again if Sprint and TMO partner up they can provide real competition to VZW and ATT.
In that case, wouldn't T-Mobile be more likely to just buy a stake in Clearwire, which is deploying the WiMax network? Though, since this is all rumors, maybe that's what will actually happen.
Sprint owns 51% of Clearwire so they do retain the ability to veto any deal that is not in Sprint's best interest.
What Deutschebags........
Finally, now T-Mobile will get the 3 cities Sprint has 3G in! :D
All kidding aside... Sprint and T-Mobile? T-Mobile Nextel? S-Mobile Nextel? I don't know.. and I don't like it.
Nice job Hesse, you've driven away enough customers with messed up phone firmware, sprint-only phones, horrendous customer service that the stock is so devalued Sprint is ripe for a hostile takeover. My guess is that was your plan from the beginning as few could rape a company the way you butt pirated Sprint and still draw a salary.
On the plus side Sprint has a reasonably good wireless infrastructure thanks to the previous Sprint CEOs. Hopefully if DT takes over Sprint we won't be locked into Sprint phones only. Verizon phones would be nice but CDMA phones from other countries that are years ahead of the crap we keep getting on Sprint after they sit in someones drawer for "testing" would be fantastic. Clean firmware without Sprint crapware that mucks them up would be wonderful.
That has got to be the dumbest most uninformed comment I've ever read in regards to Sprint. Hesse didn't start the cluster**** but he has been kicking ass getting it fixed. Gary Forsee's tenure as CEO was a disaster, the Nextel merger was a mistake. Sprint has some of the most open firmware in the US and exposes many features to third party applications that *cough* *cough* Verizon does not.
Oh no... just no... HELL NO!!!
Yeah, I'd rather KDDI or SK Telecom buy them out.
Doesn't Sprint rent their air from Ericsson now? What if they just... quit? At this point, Sprint is just a brand since they don't actually own any of their towers anymore. Boost is getting so big, also. What if they spun Boost/iDEN off as it's own thing and consolidated Sprint's subscribers into T-Mobile? It reminds me of when Cingular slowly phased out TDMA, giving the subscribers crazy incentives to upgrade to a GSM phone...
The Sprint-Ericsson deal means that Sprint maintains ownership, but Ericsson takes care of network maintenance and day-to-day operations... Ericsson doesn't actually own the Sprint network.
Sprint still owns their entire network and the Ericsson is managing the network at either breakeven or at a loss in order to get a foothold on network management in the United States. Basically Sprint let them manage it because it was a great deal for Sprint and saves them a ton of money, they didn't give up any ownership rights or anything-it's just that Ericsson has to deal with keeping things running and fixing broken stuff.
I don't think this rumor makes any sense though...another CDMA carrier making a bid for Sprint would make a lot more sense than T-mobile attempting to create a GSM/CDMA/iDEN nightmare.
That said I wish I had bought my shares of Sprint earlier since even stupid rumors are sure to drive up the stock price.
Actually, this idea of phasing out CDMA/EVDO wouldn't necessarily be a bad idea - it would leave market leader Verizon all alone in the US with that kind of network, with no backup or second customer for those phones. I think that would lessen Verizon's power among device mfrs, and also scare off some customers. However, even if the combined entity supported both networks, it wouldn't be a bad thing, as long as they dumped the nextel network.
T-mo has the best (and most polite) customer service (I know, it's not saying much given the other 3 carriers, who set the bar real low), it would be great if they extended it to the Sprint business. I have phones with both Sprint and T-Mo, I wouldn't mind getting just one bill (although would take years for them to get that act together).
I won shares in DT, which owns T-mobile, and I wouldn't mind this merger (but they have to dump nextel). But it probably won't happen, unless maybe the $ continues to lose value against the euro, in which shares of DT are valued. Then Sprint becomes even cheaper.
Ken,
To clarify (UNFORTUNATELY) Verizon would not be the only one left. We have new players on the market.. Cricket, even though it's small, it also operates as CDMA carrier (yet on AWS band..1700 Mhz...but their phones still can roam on VZV, Sprint).
@Maciek, They have towers in a few cities, but for most of the country, they re-sell service, from VZ I believe. Go on their website and try buying a phone in zip codes for major cities, and they will say they don't offer wireless service in that area (I would love to get unlimited 3G data service for $40/mo).
If it would give them better service
Does this mean they will cancel my SERO Plan?
Or will it mean they will allow it on any new phone?
anything you got under contract would grandfather in
haha that's my only concern.... as long as i get to keep SERO and new winmo phones don't require getting a different plan, i couldn't care less.
I need some clarification please.
Sprint has 3G in only 3 cities? where? The moon? Antarctica? I've been to 5 midwest cities and have 3G in all of them...
And Hesse has done wonders for Sprint. Gary Forsee was the CEO that ran Sprint into the ground.
Maybe do some research before you troll.
I was kidding. I know Sprint has 3G in more than 3 cities, I was just joking.
Gilbert, you weren't funny.
According to Wikipedia,
T-Mo USA = ~$17.1 billion revenue
Sprint = ~$35.64 billion revenue
Someone mind enlightening me?
T-Mobile USA is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, which I believe is Europe's largest telecommunications company... Wiki gives ~61 billion euros in revenue, which is about $89 million if Google is to be believed.
Billion, not million, the exchange rate doesn't work that way... (as an American, it might be nice if it did :P ) I'll just edit that comment... oh, wait.
I think you mean $89 billion, Epsilon-Not. But yes, T-Mo USA is owned by DK (the other T-Mos of the world).
This would be very, very interesting. Anything to push AT&T along with faster 3G would be helpful though (this is assuming T-Mo would jump to WiMax right away).
lol
But seriously, that's be one easy way for T-Mobile to expand their US market, compared to the lame service and coverage they have in the states, not to mention the crappy 3G.
Here I'll just pray Sprint don't even look at them.
Mega-Japan.. what? Crappy 3G network? If you mean the coverage, yes, but the 3G itself is godly. My G1 constantly beats out my father's iPhone 3GS and my cousin's Palm Pre, both having 3G network in New Jersey (one of the best, 3G everywhere coverage states).
@Gilbert:
That's nice to hear, but here in New York (right next to New Jersey), T-Mobile is probably the worst of the 4. In terms of coverage, I would be right in the middle of the city and get only 2 bars. Wut? And when I traveled to Long Island, boy say hello to the call drops.
Sprint has the fastest 3G network in this city, constantly beating my friend's iPhone and Blackberries.
@Mega-Japan - T-Mobile clearly has the least amount of coverage across the US (both 2G and 3G), they'll admit that. Sprint is generally next in terms of shear coverage, but their 3G is generally the fastest and most consistent (T-Mo's is also quite good as Gilbert mentioned, but the coverage is almost non-existant). Both AT&T and VZW have massive amounts of coverage, most of which is 3G on VZW while AT&T is catching up (slowly it seems).
Combine T-Mo US and Sprint and throw in the resources of DK and you could potentially have a huge, fast, and reliable WiMax network.