Stephen Silver
T-Mobile and Sprint claim that the "New T-Mobile" will bring 5G faster to the American people, and a host of other benefits to consumers.
Sprint and T-Mobile have formally filed their merger request with the US Federal Communications Commission, to form a combined company which will be called "New T-Mobile." Sprint and T-Mobile vow to spend $40 billion after the merger to "deliver a robust, nationwide world-class 5G network and services sooner than otherwise possible."
The merger, the parties say in their filing, is "necessary to accomplish a goal critical to enhancing consumer welfare in this country: the rapid and widespread deployment of 5G networks in a market structure that spurs rivals to invest in a huge increase in capacity, and, correspondingly, to drop tremendously the price of data per gigabyte."
The two companies also vow to "disrupt the wireless industry, and ensure U.S. leadership in the race to 5G," while also claiming that the speed of 5G will serve as an alternative to at-home broadband providers.
The filing goes on a bit about the history of wireless networks' development, especially in relation to the introduction of different iPhones as networks were upgraded 2G to 3G to 4G/LTE.
"The switch to 4G LTE produced a rapid acceleration of the virtuous cycle described by the FCC and transformed the mobile ecosystem," the companies write. "Consumers flocked to 4G LTE.81 Carriers offered attractive packages that enabled consumers to get the new 4G LTE handsets and a 4G LTE subscription. For example, in 2011 Verizon offered a promotion providing customers with "twice the data [for the] same low price" when they purchased a new 4G LTE smartphone and data plan."
The progress of 5G
5G, the next generation of wireless connection, is set to roll out later this year and early next. T-Mobile, on its own, has announced that it will roll out 5G in 30 cities by the end of 2018, while Sprint has said that its first six 5G cities are coming next year. Rival AT&T said that it will launch mobile 5G in three cities this year, with the transitional "5G Evolution" technology coming to more than 100 markets.
It's not expected that the iPhone models introduced this fall will be 5G-compatible.
We just took the next step in our merger with Sprint - a filing with the FCC sharing how the New T-Mobile will be good for consumers - including how we'll create more competition, innovation & job growth in the 5G era! Key info: https://t.co/Ioa23FUBQe https://t.co/EewogkAtFV
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) June 19, 2018
T-Mobile's history of mergers
Sprint and T-Mobile announced their plans to merge in April, in an all-stock deal worth $26 billion. "New T-Mobile" will be run by current T-Mobile CEO John Legere. The two companies had had discussions in 2017 that ended without a deal.
T-Mobile had reached a deal to be acquired by AT&T in 2011, but the Department of Justice blocked the deal later that year. The current merger would also need to be approved by the government, as well as foreign entities such as the EU.
The merger letter also vows that "T-Mobile and Sprint Are Merging to Beat Verizon and AT&T, Not to Be Like Them."
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
45 Comments
First AT&T lost me to Verizon when they started punishing iPhone people with "unlimited" plans.
Now Verizon is annoying me in many, many ways.
So my iPhone Xs (or whatever they call it) might be giving them a chance...
I could use some of this 5G today in NYC. I am on T-Mobile and my data has been crazy slow all day.
I switched to T-Mobile fro being a AT&T customer for about 15 years. I am happy I did. Service is good, and i got a significant price drop with an increase to unlimited data.
I am skeptical about 5G being an alternative to at-home broadband. I've been generally happy with my comcast cable service at $50/mo. I would try an alternative for a price drop, but CenturyLink has no "try it before you buy it" option, along with bizarre bundling options that obfuscate the issue. If T-Mobile can deliver a local 5G connection of equivalent speed at a price break, great - I'll try it. But...skeptical.
Edit: as to adding 5G to iPhone, it would be an inducement to upgrade from my iPhone 7 so I could try it.
While Legere seems to eschew the "puck" for home broadband, if someone (ahem apple) made a great one, they'd be on to something. Add a wifi router with a configurable VPN. It'd be way cool.
It's probably a good time to assess how much combined data (home and cellular) you use in a month of typical use. There are some apps that can help you measure your home Wi-Fi/broadband use, and your provider should be able to tell you how much cellular data you use. Once you have that figure, double it to allow for future increases, and that's how much data a 5G plan would need to offer at a reasonable price for you to cut ties to your current home internet provider. The 5G technology is fast enough, but its all about how much traffic they'll allow. That when you'll know whether T-Mob is serious about this idea or not.