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Department of Homeland Security piggybacks on T-Mobile's SunCom buy
Here's an interesting little fact: because T-Mobile is foreign-owned (by Germany's Deutsche Telekom), several government agencies get all up in its business every time it makes an acquisition. Yes, of course, government agencies get their grubby paws in every acquisition here be it foreign or domestic, but the foreigners have it considerably worse. When DT completed the VoiceStream acquisition back in 2001 to form T-Mobile USA, the FBI and Department of Justice took their sweet time to make sure they'd have agreements in place that allowed them to monitor communications 24 hours a day at their leisure and discretion, and actually held up the FCC's approval until they had a signed deal with the company. Since then, the Department of Homeland Security has been thrust into prominence and wants in on the same luxuries its counterparts at the DOJ and FBI enjoy -- so yeah, you guessed it, they held up the SunCom deal until DT let them in on the action, too. Rumor has it T-Mobile wasn't too happy about the Department's demands, but when the rubber met the road, they chose wireless footprint over principles. Really, with the G Men already on board, what difference does it make? [Warning: PDF link][Via BetaNews, thanks oakie]
Want a BlackBerry Pearl 8120 now? Try SunCom
Sorry to blow that big, fancy release you were planning next February, T-Mobile, but it appears you've been beaten to the punch. Strangely, regional carrier (and, ironically, recent T-Mobile acquisition) SunCom appears to be first out of the gate in the US to release the WiFi-equipped Pearl 8120, the next episode of RIM's popular Pearl series for GSM networks that brings the device roughly in line with what's available for the CDMA peeps. Early adoption has its price, though: SunCom's 8120 will set you back a cool $220 on a two year agreement -- assuming you're in a SunCom coverage area and you like the color blue, that is.[Thanks, Chaps]
T-Mobile buying Suncom for $1.6 billion
Well, we guess we can put aside any intermittent chatter of Deutsche Telekom losing interest in the US market (for the time being, anyway). The German conglomerate has announced that its US subsidiary, T-Mobile, is acquiring regional GSM carrier Suncom for some $1.6 billion plus $800 million in existing debt obligations. As the smallest national carrier in the country, T-Mobile's clearly looking to increase its footprint and flex some muscle here against its larger adversaries; if everything clears the usual regulatory hurdles, the two can expect to take on the world some time in the first half of 2008.[Via Phone Scoop]
