[skyline247]

David at Tmo News posted this today..... T-mobile To Buy Sprint Rumor, Take 24 | TmoNews - Unofficial T-Mobile Blog - News, Videos, Articles and more .

Now I am not very well versed at what it will take to convert a network wide CDMA operation to GSM, but am I the only one that thinks this would be a bad move on Deutsche Telekom's part? And it could be that it would be the same as the Verizon/Alltel merge, where DT would continue to operate Sprint as a separate entity to T-Mobile. And if that would be the case, I think that would be bad for T-Mobile customers. DT, in my opinion, should invest the money in upgrading equipment and finalizing T-Mo�s 3G rollout, and the future plans to update the entire 3G network from HSPA 7.2 to HSPA 21 by next year. Keeping the current customer base happy should be a priority, at least it seems to me.

Please submit your thoughts, and if I am wrong, please correct. Thanks.

[Dr.Sadistic]

I agree with would be a bad move, just based on the amount of money it would cost to migrate Sprint's system. That would equal a major increase in the price of T-Mo's service to help cover the cost. However, it would make T-Mo a major competitor in the race to cell service superiority.

[dictoresno]

i dont think they would convert the Sprint network over to GSM. its kinda like how Vodafone owns Verizon, but you dont see them trying to convert them to GSM. they would probably keep their CDMA network and run both.

[hieromante]

If they do take over Sprint, how about unlimited mobile-to-mobile between both? That might be perk some would like...

[larrygump]

Its not gonna happen

[skyline247]

i dont think they would convert the Sprint network over to GSM. its kinda like how Vodafone owns Verizon, but you dont see them trying to convert them to GSM. they would probably keep their CDMA network and run both.

True. Besides, Imagine all of the device replacements they would have to be involved with to convert over to a complete GSM network. I know that when Verizon & Alltel merged (although they are both CDMA), Verizon is making all of the prior Alltel customers convert to Devices catered to the Verizon network. i.e. Vcast music, VZ Navigator, etc.

A lot of people are going to be dissapointed. I have read, many are thinking "Cool, now I can own a Palm Pre or HTC Hero". But if it goes down this way, it would be of no good. You would still have to go over to "Sprint", albeit the company would be now owned by the same parent company that owned your T-Mo.

This, in turn, might lead to DT spending less on T-Mo upgrades and updates. However, it may be a complete 360, and with the increased customer base, albeit prior "Sprint" customers, DT would have the money to revamp both the CDMA Sprint and GSM T-Mobile infrastructure.

[KasiCatastrophe]

i dont think they would convert the Sprint network over to GSM. its kinda like how Vodafone owns Verizon, but you dont see them trying to convert them to GSM. they would probably keep their CDMA network and run both.

Verizon is going to be switching over to GSM. It is something that was announced back in 2007. They will of course still have their CDMA service, but their 4G network is going to be LTE (which is GSM.)

Verizon dumps CDMA for GSM-based LTE in 4G networks

Unlocked: Verizon To Go GSM

[skyline247]

Verizon is going to be switching over to GSM. It is something that was announced back in 2007. They will of course still have their CDMA service, but their 4G network is going to be LTE (which is GSM.)

Verizon dumps CDMA for GSM-based LTE in 4G networks

Unlocked: Verizon To Go GSM

Yes, the next few years in the telecommunications field are going to be an interesting and exciting time. I predict that, at the most, we will be able to use our unlocked devices from any carrier on any network around the world. Granted, I know that world phones from Verizon and from AT&T will not be able to get T-Mobiles 3G, but I think after the LTE and 4G networks have been completed, any device will work.

This being said, it is also likely that the price of unlocked phones will also go up, as subsidies for new phones with new plans will in turn go down. Let's hope this isn't the case.

[Artemis68]

I heard about this rumor on another phone board. I'm not sure what to think about it.

It would be very costly to switch everything over to GSM if this happens. Maybe tmo would just keep the CDMA network as is? Then they could build phones that work on both the CDMA and GSM networks for better coverage? I don't know. That's my guessm

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[soul4sins]

T Mobile cannot survive the telecom sector as it is currently structured. Before the consolidation that shaped the telecom sector to what it is today, T Mobile was structured well to compete. However, as it is now, T Mobile finds itself in a market dominated by large economies of scale generated by the consolidation with AT&T/Cingular and Verizon/Alltel. T Mobile's main competitors are suddenly Metro PCS and Boost Mobile. T Mobile's parent company, DT, has said that T Mobile has been a strain to its bottom line, and they (DT) cannot continue to inject billions of dollars and not achieve the kind of growth needed to stay competative with VZW, AT&T and Sprint. We see this with the merger in the UK. A Sprint/T Mobile merger is the only viable solution at this stage in the market. Deutsche Telekom knows that they dropped the ball by not bidding on AT&T back in 2004.

[Artemis68]

If this merger happens (Tmobile buying Sprint) how do you think this will affect current tmo/sprint subscribers?

Cause I really like my plan and don't want to lose it. I'm with tmo btw.

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[skyline247]

If this merger happens (Tmobile buying Sprint) how do you think this will affect current tmo/sprint subscribers?

Cause I really like my plan and don't want to lose it. I'm with tmo btw.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Noone really knows at this point I don't think. If it goes the way of DT keeping Sprint intact, and a continuance to operate Sprint as a separate entity from T-Mobile, it could hurt T-Mobile, IMO, by less funding from DT to upgrade and update T-Mobile's network infrastructure. As, I am sure, DT will have plans for revitalizing the Sprint infrastructure as well.

If DT plans to make it one big company, when the acquisition is complete, then the costs to convert CDMA to GSM would, I am sure, be astounding. That, I am sure, could be non-beneficial to current T-Mobile customers as well. But, as stated, who knows. There are too many pennies in the pot at this point, and noone is even sure that DT will even purchase Sprint. The only thing we know at this point, reported by Tmo News via newspaper Telegraph UK ( T-Mobile owner eyes multi-billion dollar bid for Sprint - Telegraph ) is that Deutsche Telekom has called in Deutsche Bank in preparation for an offer for Sprint. Hopefully we will know of more details within two weeks.

Listed are other articles concerning this:

Deutsche Telekom eyes bid for Sprint Nextel - Yahoo! News

Deutsche Telekom eyeing Sprint Nextel for acquisition?

[berryite]

David at Tmo News posted this today..... T-mobile To Buy Sprint Rumor, Take 24 | TmoNews - Unofficial T-Mobile Blog - News, Videos, Articles and more

This is funny. I have poo-poo'd these Sprint rumors for years.

The other day, I suggested in another thread about TMo and Orange merging in the UK that T-Mobile might do something dramatic here in the US such as merge with Sprint and here it is.

I'm not poo-pooing this one. I think it could have legs.

And I've been through a few international mergers in my career. DT wouldn't immediately tear Sprint/Nextel apart but after a few months, they definitely would move to absorb Sprint's operations into T-Mobile's. Look for the Nextel name to vanish and then Sprint stores to be co-branded Sprint-TMobile. Within 12-18 months, the Sprint name will also start vanishing.

I'd also predict the end of the CDMA operations as soon as it makes operational sense to start eliminating it.

I'm not saying this is 100%, but I'd bet it's well better than 50% likely.

The Sprint and Nextel brands could be a memory by 2011.

[berryite]

Its not gonna happen

Larry, these corporations are like sharks. If a shark stops swimming, it drowns. It must keep moving to stay alive.

With Verizon and AT&T growing, T-Mobile's gambit over time is either to expand or prepare to shut down and sell off.

DT has too much invested in their USA operations. And there is no TMo-Orange type of merger to do in the USA. DT couldn't buy Verizon or AT&T so if they are to remain a viable national carrier in the USA, they've got to do something dramatic.

My sixth sense says this rumor, which has been kicked around for years, is something more this time. If I were a betting man, I'd say there might well be something to this now. Keep a sharp eye. We all just might be surprised in the weeks and months ahead.

[Tre Lawrence]

Larry, these corporations are like sharks. If a shark stops swimming, it drowns. It must keep moving to stay alive.

With Verizon and AT&T growing, T-Mobile's gambit over time is either to expand or prepare to shut down and sell off.

DT has too much invested in their USA operations. And there is no TMo-Orange type of merger to do in the USA. DT couldn't buy Verizon or AT&T so if they are to remain a viable national carrier in the USA, they've got to do something dramatic.

My sixth sense says this rumor, which has been kicked around for years, is something more this time. If I were a betting man, I'd say there might well be something to this now. Keep a sharp eye. We all just might be surprised in the weeks and months ahead.

I agree for the most part...

[skyline247]

The Sprint and Nextel brands could be a memory by 2011.

If we look at Suncom as a business model of DT's takeover's in the past, this could very well be true. Does anybody hear about Suncom anymore?

Acquisitions
2001 *VoiceStream Wireless for $24 billion

2007 *SunCom Wireless for $2.4 billion
*ImmoScout24

2008 *OTE

(Source: Deutsche Telekom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )

[Artemis68]

Looks very possible. Kind of glad I'm on the tmo end and not a sprint, that would really screw things up.

It's just interesting because isn't Sprint #3 of the major carriers and tmo US is #4...small fish eating the big fish I guess.

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[Tiassa]

It's just interesting because isn't Sprint #3 of the major carriers and tmo US is #4...small fish eating the big fish I guess.

But TMo is successful worldwide, and Sprint/Nextel is having hard times (they pissed off a lot of the Nextel customers --myself included-- who left for other carriers. So TMo has the financial ability to do this and Sprint/Nextel doesn't have the financing to by TMo

[Ikarus]

It's just interesting because isn't Sprint #3 of the major carriers and tmo US is #4...small fish eating the big fish I guess.

T-Mobile wouldn't be the buyer, its owner Deutsche Telekom would be. That's still big fish eating small fish.

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[blkbryluva]

That would only work if they switch to one platform if not it will be another sprint/nextel all over again...

[syquest1]

It isnt going to happen. This was rumored a year ago and DT denied it and said that it wouldnt make good business sense for them to do it. Im sure nothing has changed in a years time.

[berryite]

It isnt going to happen. This was rumored a year ago and DT denied it and said that it wouldnt make good business sense for them to do it. Im sure nothing has changed in a years time.

Hmmmm ... Let's see, since the last time these rumors started circulating, we've seen Cingular and AT&T Wireless merge; we've seen Verizon do an end run around the new AT&T operation and buy Alltel and go from #2 back to #1; we've seen a global recession bordering on a global depression; and we've seen the unthinkable with T-Mobile and Orange merging their operations in the UK.

I'd say that's quite a lot that's changed.

Another poster commented that T-Mobile has gone from being a competitor of Verizon and AT&T to being a competitor of Metro and Boost Mobile. As immediately distasteful as this sounds, there is validity in the conclusion. T-Mobile's position in the USA market is slipping.

DT has to make a chess move here. They either have to step up and compete with Verizon and AT&T or accept a 3rd-class ranking and a Metro-Boost "also ran" ststus as a carrier in the USA market. That would carry disasterous results down the line.

The mobile market isn't sitting still. I've been saying for months that Verizon is a company to watch. Verizon is going places and they are a driving force in the USA market. If DT doesn't do something to reposition T-Mobile, they'll be gone in 5 years.

T-Mobile as they stand today are too small to compete with Verizon and AT&T and they are too big to accept a business profile on the same footing with Metro and Boost. They must reinvent themselves or they'll be dead in 5 years. DT's guys are smart and they know this. Their merger with Orange was a strategic act of salvation in the UK market and they know that they must find a way to reposition T-Mobile in the USA too. Buying Sprint's operations now would be one of only a few options to accomplish that goal.

I've been one of the most critical doubters on these Sprint merger rumors in the past. Not now. DT is in a battle to stay relevant in the USA. Continuing to run T-Mobile as it exists today will only lead to a sell off (probably to AT&T) down the line.

If you see DT/T-Mobile buy Sprint, you'll be seeing DT say that they're in it for the long haul. If you see DT do nothing, you'll see the start of a dwindling spiral into irrelevancy where their USA operations will be bought off in a few years ... again probably by AT&T.

Oh, and someone made some comment somewhere about T-Mobile being smaller thAn Sprint. That's ridiculous. DT is bigger than Verizon and AT&T if you consider their global operatIons.

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[Artemis68]

T-Mobile wouldn't be the buyer, its owner Deutsche Telekom would be. That's still big fish eating small fish.

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Oh good point >< sorry I was thinking tmo US not DT. DT is huge.

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[Artemis68]

What will be really interesting (in my opinion) to see is how tmo will integrate Sprint's networks into their own if they follow through with this.

I wonder what's going to happen if these CMDA and GSM countries come together...what will happen? Will the company stay GSM or go to CDMA? Or support both?

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[skyline247]

T-mobile SVP of Engineering and Operations Neville Ray will be delivering a keynote address at Yankee Group’s 4G-world conference. ( https://4gworld.com/?p=1431 )

According to David over at tmonews,an email from the company stated “The presentation will discuss T-mobile’s plans to begin rolling out our next generation network solution, HSPA+, before the end of the year. HSPA+ enables faster speeds and better performance for our customers and is T-mobile’s bridge to 4G.”

If T-Mobile and DT were to have 4G in force within a reasonable amount of time, and Sprint in turn would have their 4G network completed, then maybe, just maybe, the integration of the two wouldn't be so hard and cost-consuming after all.

I am thouroughly going to be interested to hear what Neville Ray has to say Friday at the Conference.