AT&T: T-Mobile sucks (and we'd like to buy it for $39 billion)


Source: Ars Technica
Author: Nate Anderson
Location:
Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 445 12th Street SW, Washington, DC, 20554, United States

$39 billion -- that's a lot to pay for a company. It must be awesome, right? Here's how AT&T describes acquisition target T-Mobile:

  • "T-Mobile is not an important factor in AT&T’s competitive decision-making."
  • "As a standalone company, however, T-Mobile USA would continue to face substantial commercial and spectrum-related challenges. It confronts increased competition from industry mavericks such as MetroPCS, Leap, and others; its percentage of US subscribers has been falling for nearly two years; and it has no clear path to LTE."
  • "T-Mobile USA, in contrast to others, does not have a differentiated network position. T-Mobile USA has admitted that it suffered from its late transition to a 3G network, and unlike Sprint, which first promoted a 4G network, T-Mobile USA’s HSPA+ launch appears to have been lost among other carriers’ 4G messaging."
  • "AT&T does not believe that T-Mobile USA has a particularly compelling portfolio of smartphone offerings as compared to AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint."
  • "To the extent that T-Mobile USA’s prices are lower than those received by AT&T and Verizon Wireless for otherwise comparable subscribers, T-Mobile USA’s lower prices have not stimulated growth in its share of retail subscribers. This indicates that other aspects of T-Mobile USA’s service are in some way lacking."

And it's not just T-Mobile; AT&T can't say enough bad things about the imminent problems with its own network.

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