One of the reasons why the AT&T and T-Mobile deal has not gone through, despite it being announced months ago, is that not just their competitors, but antitrust regulators who feel that through AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile, competition will essentially be dead, at least as far as the small carriers are concerned. One of the ways that AT&T has tried to appease the courts and their competition is by offering the sales of some of their assets, perhaps in a bid to show that they’re not interested in having a monopoly.
This deal was offered to some of their competitors, such as Sprint who is probably the most vocal against this deal, MetroPCS, Dish Network Corp., and Leap Wireless International Inc. If you thought that Sprint would probably be the most interested in acquiring some of AT&T’s assets, you would be wrong as it turns out that MetroPCS has emerged as being the frontrunner in purchasing said assets from AT&T that will hopefully allow the deal to go through.
No numbers were given although some have estimated it to be no more than $4 billion, which would include both subscribers and wireless spectrum. So how will MetroPCS be able to afford that $4 billion dollar deal? Well, as it turns out Deutsche Telekom is prepared to give MetroPCS a helping hand with financing, according to people familiar with the matter. While in no way does this guarantee that the AT&T/T-Mobiledeal will go through, this move does help to paint AT&T and T-Mobile in a good light which could end up turning things around in their favor.
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