We’ve been hearing about this for quite a while now. But Softbank, who is the majority owner of Sprint, is looking to purchase T-Mobile, and we could see a deal made in early 2014. On this fine Christmas Eve, we’re getting reports out of Reuters that Softbank is reportedly in the final stages of talks with T-Mobile’s parent company Deutsche Telekom about acquiring T-Mobile US. Of course T-Mobile US won’t be cheap. It’ll cost Softbank about $20 billion to acquire the fourth largest US carrier. This is after Softbank paid a little over $20 billion for Sprint earlier this year. Giving them about a 78% stake in the company.
Which is going to be a problem for Softbank. They are already looking at banks right now to finance the deal. Reportedly there’s about 5 banks to finance the deal, Softbank has openly said that they are not willing to accept the risk of paying billions compensation if the deal goes south. Which, if the AT&T/T-Mobile merger is a sign, it could definitely fall through. Remember, just because Deutsche Telekom does accept the deal, doesn’t mean that the deal will go through. You’ve got all the FCC requirements and such. Which is what kept AT&T from buying T-Mobile a couple years ago.
We’ve already talked about why we don’t want T-Mobile and Sprint to merge. Even if you’re a Sprint fan or customer, you shouldn’t want this deal. The big reason is because T-Mobile is really shaking up the network, and getting the big guys on their toes. T-Mobile has been making some crazy moves this year and it’s scaring AT&T and Verizon, and it appears to be scaring Sprint as well.
I know from past articles about T-Mobile here at Android Headlines, that many of you are T-Mobile fans and subscribers like myself. I am really hoping this is just a rumor and that it doesn’t go through. Not because I’m a T-Mobile subscriber (I’ve actually been thinking about leaving T-Mobile and jumping on Aio’s prepaid on AT&T’s network), but because I want to see what T-Mobile is going to do next, and if Sprint buys them AT&T and Verizon will be able to relax and keep doing what they’ve been doing prior to 2013.
How many of you want to see this deal go through? And how many of you don’t want it to go through? Let us know in the comments below.