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T-Mobile/Sprint Merger Talks Threatened by New Offer from France

posted by janrinok on Friday August 01 2014, @05:40PM   Printer-friendly
from the its-not-over-until-the-fat-lady-sings dept.

bob_super writes:

Illad, the owner of the French internet and cell phone provider Free, has announced a $15B bid to take a controlling stake in T-Mobile.

T-mobile is currently in discussions with Sprint (controlled by Softbank of Japan) for a merger which would reduce the US carriers from 4 to 3. It is expected that the current regulators would favor a takeover leaving 4 carriers to compete

The arrival of Free in the US market would potentially be a great thing from consumers. In their home market in France, their offerings have forced their competitors to match their DSL triple play and "unlimited" Cell plans below 30 Euros per month each. They even offer cell service starting at 2 Euros per month. Whether any of this is applicable in the US market is the question they're ready to bet $15 Billion on.

 
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  • (Score: 2) by mrider on Friday August 01 2014, @07:32PM

    by mrider (3252) on Friday August 01 2014, @07:32PM (#76497)

    TracFone user here. My minutes carry over, so long as I renew my expiration date before it expires. If you let your account totally lapse, then yes they'll be gone.

    I always renew for Service Days, never minutes. Perhaps different time fill up cards do different things?

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  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Friday August 01 2014, @07:49PM

    by frojack (1554) on Friday August 01 2014, @07:49PM (#76506) Journal

    We never used the number of minutes in our plan (and I'd reduce the number minutes every time I renewed).
    We always accumulate roll-over minutes.

    My newer plan is unlimited. They've finally realized its cheaper just to give minutes away and stop accounting for them.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 01 2014, @08:31PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 01 2014, @08:31PM (#76527)

    I think the cheapest prepaid cash option on tracfone's website is $20 for 60 minutes (33cents/min) and you have to buy more minutes every 90 days. That's way more expensive than either lyca or h2o if you are a low-volume user like myself. Lyca costs $3 for 60 minutes (5cents/min), no expiration as long as you make at least one call or text every 90 days.