Monday, May 16, 2011

T-Mobile Needs to Be Sold

OK, here I am jumping over to the other side of the fence. As much as I do NOT want just 2 big wireless carriers in this country, T-Mobile's demise may be inevitable. Their owner, Deutsch Telekom, wants out of the business in the US and AT&T may be the only possible buyer. We can't force Deutsch Telekom to keep the business intact (although $6 Billion in AT&T penalty money might help), so who, if not AT&T?

Sprint hasn't got the money to pay what AT&T is offering and the funds necessary to convert the network to CDMA. It's the same story for the next 2 largest carriers, MetroPCS and Cricket, both CDMA carriers. US Cellular is another company on the edge and can't buy it without giving up the company's unique ownership structure, and smaller carriers can't count their funds with a "B" in front of their "-illions". Selling off in pieces would still probably go to the only players able to afford "pieces."

That leaves the foreign carriers like China Mobile, Telefonica or the richest man in the world, Carlos Slim, owner of America Movil, parent of TracFone and Mexico's TelCel. Would these companies be more likely to gain approval than AT&T? What would stop a German company from selling to a Mexican company? A few dozen AT&T lobbyists, maybe? This may be the story of one Mexican being asked to please cross the border.

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