AT&T Ends Bid for T-Mobile
AT&T and finally decided its attempted merger with T-Mobile was just not going to be allowed by the United States government:
US telecoms giant AT&T has said it will not pursue its $39bn bid to buy T-Mobile USA after running into fierce government objections.
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AT&T has said it would include a $4bn charge in its fourth-quarter accounts to cover any potential compensation due if the deal does not go ahead.
AT&T agreed to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom in March, aiming to create the largest US wireless network.
While many T-Mobile customers are cheering I question whether or not this will allow T-Mobile to continue exiting. The bottom line is Deutsche Telekom is no longer interested in T-Mobile and is willing to break the subsidiary up and sell it in pieces if necessary. Likewise the $4 billion AT&T just payed for the failed merger goes to Deutsche Telekom, who may or may not invest it back into T-Mobile.
The merger also caused a great deal of damage to T-Mobile as it basically froze them in place. During the merger they did little or no network expansion that I'm aware of, obtained relatively few new phones, and now sit as the only carrier who doesn't have the iPhone. If T-Mobile wants to remain relevant they have to play catchup for the last several months they did nothing while AT&T attempted to purchase the company. Overall the attempted merger may have caused irreversible damage to the fourth major carrier in the United States.