Mobile
Sprint/T-Mobile USA merger talk renewed
The Wall Street Journal reports that Sprint has reopened discussions on how to merge with T-Mobile USA as the two slip further away from their far more powerful rivals, Verizon and AT&T. Would be a very interesting move complicated by Sprint’s poor history with mergers. Of course, the big question is: Could SprinT-Mo get the iPhone?
Okay, settle down fanboys. I was only kidding about that last part, but still, I’m sure the fact neither Sprint nor T-Mobile USA has the iPhone isn’t helping their respective situations. Aside from boosting their network muscle, WSJ reports a merger would help Sprint bring down marketing and overhead costs, which are driving them deeper in debt, while T-Mobile USA is in need of spectrum.
One problem blocking talks is an agreement on company valuation with T-Mobile thinking they’re worth more than Sprint is offering. Another factor that needs to be considered is how these two networks would combine since Sprint is CDMA while T-Mobile is GSM. The disaster that was the Sprint Nextel merger (which I believe has been the source of Sprint’s woes since) shows how much damage a merger between two different types of networks can inflict if not handled right. Lot of positive potential here, but also a lot of risk.
Via The Consumerist
Dudee1998
03/09/2011 at 7:06 pm
Sprints problem starts off with nextel and ends with wimax. The person responsible for wimax was also the responsible for nextel. The guy makes a good product, sells it off and moves on. Anybody with half a brain could see the future was and is lte. That’s what sprint should have been investing in and they need tmobile to get into the gsm market. How long can tmobile hold on to the american market? All they have top do is wait for sprint to become cheap enough to buy. With bad decisions leading sprints way that shouldn’t be to long. Just a few more prepaid buy outs.