T-Mobile and Sprint, the third and fourth largest U.S. wireless carriers respectively, have called off merger talks, although they have left the door open in a joint statement:
Sprint Corp and T-Mobile US Inc said on Saturday they have called off merger talks to create a stronger U.S. wireless company to rival market leaders, leaving No. 4 provider Sprint to engineer a turnaround on its own.
The announcement marks the latest failed attempt to combine the third- and fourth-largest U.S. wireless carriers, as Sprint parent SoftBank Group Corp and T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom AG, show unwillingness to part with too much of their prized U.S. telecom assets. A combined company would have had more than 130 million U.S. subscribers, behind Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc.
The failed merger could also help keep wireless prices low as all four providers have been heavily discounting their cellphone plans in a battle for consumers. "Consumers are better off without the merger because Sprint and T-Mobile will continue to compete fiercely for budget-conscious customers," said Erik Gordon, a Ross School of Business professor at the University of Michigan.
The companies' unusual step of making a joint announcement on the canceled negotiations could indicate they still recognize the merits of a merger, keeping the door open for potential future talks.
Also at Bloomberg, NYT, and Ars Technica.
Previously: Sprint: Purchase of T-Mobile Promotes Competition
Inside the Plan to Pull Sprint Out of its Death Spiral
Related: Sprint the Only US Telecomm to Challenge NSA
T-Mobile and Verizon Mobile Plans Change; Probably Not Better for Consumers
Are True Burner Phones Now Impossible in the USA?
T-Mobile's New 600 MHz Network Rollout Begins This Summer
Verizon Wireless Divides Unlimited Plan Into Three Worse Options
Related Stories
youngatheart writes:
"When does merging two companies make for more marketplace competition? When they aren't big enough to compete with the other giants in the industry. At least that's the logic behind the argument that Sprint should be allowed to acquire T-Mobile. I'm wondering what this means for MetroPCS users like me now that we're T-Mobile users by the previous merger."
Sprint was the only US telecomm company to counter request the NSA for the legal rationale to release telephone metadata. Sprint asked for legal justification when it received requests for its phone metadata in 2009.
Newly declassified documents show the dilemma faced by telecommunications companies when the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) came calling.
According to a story this week in the Washington Post, Sprint asked the NSA for legal justification when it received requests for phone metadata in 2009. Reportedly, it was the only telco to require a legal rationale. The documents related to previous occasions for which the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISA, had issued orders.
After the documents were presented, Sprint dropped its challenge and complied with the request.
In 2013, SoftBank took control of Sprint in a $21.6 billion acquisition. Sprint was already in trouble, but Son announced his intention to merge the company with T-Mobile to challenge Verizon and AT&T. One of the first things he did was put Claure on Sprint's board. When the plan to merge with T-Mobile ran into regulatory objections and failed, Son bought Claure's company and named his protégé Sprint's CEO.
In the 17 months since, Claure (pronounced CLAW-ray) and Son have had hundreds of phone chats, exchanged thousands of texts and e-mails, and sat through dozens of midnight meetings. They've slashed prices—Sprint offered iPhones for $1 a month last year—and replaced much of the old executive team. This week people familiar with the situation said the company would eliminate 2,500 jobs, bringing total cuts under SoftBank to more than 4,000.
It hasn't helped much. The stocks of SoftBank and Sprint plummeted to multiyear lows in mid-January, though both recovered some with Sprint's report of third-quarter subscriber gains and lower-than-expected losses. SoftBank has plowed more than $22 billion into Sprint, and yet all of Sprint is now valued at $11.8 billion. The company's $2.2 billion in cash is about the same as its 2016 debt obligations.
A decade ago, Sprint had a $69 billion market value and a chance to dominate the U.S. wireless business. The company is now No. 4 in essentially a four-player business. It hasn't posted an annual profit since 2006.
Verizon Raises Upgrade Fee, Purges More Unlimited Data Users
Verizon has raised its phone upgrade fee to "cover increased cost" of providing a 4G LTE network, despite its latest earnings report showing decreases in wireless capital expenditures. Verizon later "clarified" that it was referring to "ongoing costs to maintain and enhance the network".
Additionally, Verizon Wireless customers with grandfathered-in unlimited data plans will be disconnected or forced to switch to a limited plan if they use more than 200 GB of data a month on average. The company stopped offering the unlimited data plans in 2011. During Verizon's previous purge, customers using more than 500 GB of data per month were targeted.
T-Mobile eliminates cheaper postpaid plans, sells "unlimited data" only
T-Mobile USA will stop selling its older and cheaper limited-data plans to postpaid customers, shifting entirely to its new "unlimited" data plans that impose bandwidth limits on video and tethering unless customers pay extra. To ease the transition, T-Mobile will offer bill credits of $10 a month to customers when they use less than 2GB per month.
T-Mobile began its shift to unlimited data plans in August with the introduction of T-Mobile One, which starts at $70 a month. While there are no data caps, customers have to pay a total of $95 a month to get high-definition video and mobile hotspot speeds of greater than 512kbps.
The carrier said in August that the unlimited plan would be "replacing all our rate plans," including its cheaper plans that cost $50 or $65 a month. Nonetheless, T-Mobile kept selling limited postpaid data plans to new customers for a few months, but yesterday CEO John Legere said that as of January 22, T-Mobile One will be the "only postpaid consumer plan we sell."
Updated: AT&T is raising the price of grandfathered unlimited plans again
Not that long ago you could buy a prepaid cell phone with cash, an unlocked cell phone with cash, and a sim card with cash, without having to show any ID, in the USA. As far as I know this is now impossible. Every store now requires ID when purchasing these things. Is there any way to obtain a cell phone that respects my privacy and therefore security in the US any longer? Are these rules about showing ID state-specific? I'm curious if anyone else has recent experience trying to do what used to be the norm. Obviously any sim card or phone tied to an id, credit card, etc., offers no privacy. Thanks!
takyon: People IRL and on IRC are telling me that no, you do not necessarily need an ID to obtain a prepaid cell phone. You might want to get it months in advance of doing anything with it so that store CCTV footage is erased, and you might want to put it in a faraday cage (several layers of foil can also be used) before it is anywhere near your house or primary identity-tracked phone(s). In fact, you could do that in the parking lot of the place you buy it. Here are some related stories:
How Two Escaped Killers Could Completely Disappear Off the Grid
Bill Aims to Identify U.S. Prepaid Cellular Users
Thailand Plans to Track All SIM Cards Sold in the Country
Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
Yesterday, the FCC officially granted the 600 MHz spectrum licenses that T-Mobile successfully secured in the recent broadcast incentive auction. The Un-carrier now officially possesses a staggering average of 31 MHz of 600 MHz spectrum licenses across the nation, more than quadrupling its low-band holdings (click for spectrum auction reactions from Verizon and AT&T).
With the spectrum transfer complete, the real fun begins. Despite the cries from skeptics, T-Mobile has already kicked off deployment activities and will see the first sites ready for testing this summer! This timeline - well ahead of expectations – sets the stage for commercial operations later this year.
The source is a bit of a soyvertisement but still interesting if read in that light.
Verizon is making some changes to its unlimited data plan:
Well, now we know why Verizon Wireless was "testing" reduced Netflix streaming speeds last month. Today the biggest US carrier announced that its existing unlimited data plan is being divided into three new options: Go Unlimited (starting at $75 for a single line), Beyond Unlimited ($85 for first line), and Business Unlimited. Unlike the relatively straightforward unlimited plan that Verizon surprised customers with in February, these new monthly plans are chock-full of fine print and caveats. And in a move sure to anger net neutrality advocates, the regular "Go Unlimited" plan throttles all smartphone video streaming to 480p / DVD-quality. The new plans go into effect beginning tomorrow, August 23rd, so this change is happening fast. Existing postpaid customers can keep their current plan, but some things will change even for them.
Also at Engadget, BGR, and Tom's Guide.
Previously: T-Mobile and Verizon Mobile Plans Change; Probably Not Better for Consumers
Altice USA, a cable television provider, is entering into a strategic agreement with Sprint:
Altice USA struck a deal with Sprint Corp. that will allow the cable operator to sell wireless service using Sprint's network.
As part of the agreement, Sprint will use Altice's broadband infrastructure to strengthen its nationwide wireless network, according to a statement from both companies that didn't disclose financial terms. Talks between Sprint's majority owner, SoftBank Group Corp., to combine the carrier with T-Mobile US Inc. collapsed over the weekend after months of negotiations.
The deal between Altice and Sprint marks the latest example of a U.S. cable operator entering the wireless business to compete with giants like Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable operator, recently started selling cellular service using Verizon's network. Charter Communications Inc., the No. 2 cable operator, plans to enter the wireless business next year.
What's up with Google's Project Fi lately?
Also at FierceCable and FierceWireless (wow, so fierce!).
Related: T-Mobile and Sprint Merger Called Off After Months of Talks
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @05:39PM
Aw shit. T-Mo & Sprint don't wanna consolidate opportunities for the inner city urban poor.
Fuck! I wanted me some T-Mobile coverage with my Boost Mobile.
Where you at, bitch?!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday November 06 2017, @05:42PM (5 children)
The more competitors there are, the better off us peasants are. If there were enough competitors to make it a highly competitive market (at least 15 or so players), then most of the abuses that we're currently seeing would go away because competitive pressures would encourage companies to innovate.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 2) by frojack on Monday November 06 2017, @06:03PM (2 children)
This particular merger never made any sense anyway.
Trying to marry T-Mobile's mostly modern network with that horrible creaking CDMA lashup that Sprint still uses never made sense.
Their network barely extends out of the cities, their phones don't allow migration [whistleout.com] to other networks (except very late model dual technology models-$$$).
I don't think Sprint can survive without a major technology change, which they have not even begun. Other than spectrum, I don't know what attraction Sprint held for T-Mo.
Verizon doesn't need them.
T-Mobile doesn't want them.
They have one market that matches their technology and network reach: Urban/Suburban/City-Center Utility-Industrial-infrastructural control and monitoring systems (IOT for government). Their network has the speed, range, and coverage to handle that reasonably well. Perhaps they just just kick voice customers to the curb, down-size and serve that market.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Monday November 06 2017, @06:58PM (1 child)
I think they would be after the LTE network. TMobile is proud of their network (I think they always claim fastest), but increasing number of towers is tough. Eventually the operators will be moving completely to Voice over LTE, but a lot of antennas will be needed to increase service area.
I don't watch the handset market closely, but the mid-range models I look at typically have either GSM only or CDMA and GSM now. Google Fi, for example operates on both TMobile and Sprint's networks (although with very specific hardware).
(Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Monday November 06 2017, @07:42PM
A tower is a tower.
Almost all towers now-days are owned by tower companies, and the same tower servers just about all carriers.
Hang a few more antenna's on it, slap a few more transmitters in the racks in the shed, and all of a sudden you carry Sprint as well as At&T.
They don't need new towers to to go to GSM/LTE, those towers already exist.
LTE is (at its heart) a wholesale switch to GSM. But that's not much more than another transmitter slid into the rack in the shed that does both CDMA and GSM and takes less rack space then the last generation of either. Maybe you have to hang additional radiators up the tower.
But this switch is far from complete. And they are stuck with customers running old CDMA phones that can't migrate to LTE.
I suspect there's a lot more value in the licenses for spectrum held by Sprint than any other single component.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday November 06 2017, @08:03PM (1 child)
What shocked me when I visited the UK in 2012 was the number of networks I could choose from.
I don't think they all had their own towers, most were probably MVNO's, but mobile access is really cheap in the UK because of competition.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday November 06 2017, @08:41PM
Basically, if you compare telecom performance in the US to the rest of the developed world, it's downright embarrassing. That's true whether you're looking at mobile or wired, voice or TCP/IP.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 4, Interesting) by frojack on Monday November 06 2017, @06:20PM (2 children)
One has to wonder if Google has clean hands in this whole Courtship and Breakup .
Google's Project Fi [google.com] uses triple network compatibility on T-Mobile, Sprint, and US Cellular, and e-sims [www.blog.google].
Watching Sprint+T-Mo become a single entity would not hold much attraction for Google, as they would lose their leverage in price negotiations.
My prediction is that the e-sim could lead to the to a radical change in the cell carriers and the plans they offer. If people can switch carriers on a whim, without even visiting a store-front, the carriers become like espresso shops where brand loyalty is concerned and MVNO will rule the day.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by chromas on Monday November 06 2017, @08:55PM (1 child)
Sort of amusing that people are masturbating over the lack of sim card. Sprint doesn't use sim cards and nobody like Sprint. Also, I'm surprised more phones aren't multi-network. Isn't it pretty much just a change in the radio firmware and maybe a different antenna sticker?
And if Android phones are just now getting e-sims, may–maybe iPhones have e-headphone-jacks. Convenient!
(Score: 2) by frojack on Monday November 06 2017, @11:35PM
Lack of a sim card on a CDMA network is not the same thing as an e-sim on GSM.
Also, software programmable radios are only recently finding their way into the handset market because 1) technology has only in the last 5 years made this possible, 2) regulatory pressure to keep control of transmitters out of hackers hands all these years, and 3) the carriers not wanting you to finance a phone through them, and wander off to another carrier.
My old phone drawer has several models kicking around it in that barely supported dual ban cellular radios. Quad band are still current in many models. No, its not always as simple as adjusting the firmware.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.