AT&T acquisition of T-Mobile USA increases the iPhone's potential marketshare even more
AT&T Inc. and Deutsche Telekom AG today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which AT&T will acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom in a cash-and-stock transaction currently valued at approximately $39 billion. The agreement has been approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies.
What does this mean for Apple and the iPhone? It means that AT&T just got a huge boost in their efforts of bringing their 4G LTE network to customers, adding 46.5 million more potential customers in the process. It also means AT&T gains a boat load of new towers that would have otherwise taken 5 years to build – and that’s great news for iPhone users! Speaking of the iPhone, Apple’s potential customer base just got a lot bigger.
Is there a down side to this deal? Yes. If you’re a happy T-Mobile customer who wanted nothing to do with AT&T, you’re out of luck.
UPDATE (3/21/11): The Q&A page on the news release at T-Mobile’s website had this to say:
T-Mobile USA remains an independent company. The acquisition is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months. We do not offer the iPhone. We offer cutting edge devices like the Samsung Galaxy S 4G and coming soon our new Sidekick 4G.
So it now appears that the iPhone will NOT be coming to T-Mobile customers after all. At least, not this year. But just like the Alltel acquisition by Verizon some years ago, I suspect everything will eventually fold under the AT&T brand, and that will probably mean iPhone availability.