It seems that we are in a time where telecommunications companies tend to change hands. First there was the SoftBank acquisition of Sprint. Now, we have the talk of SoftBank, via Sprint, looking to get their hands on the UNcarrier, T-Mobile. Next, it looks like we could be seeing AT&T go after Vodafone. Currently, Vodafone owns 45% of Verizon’s stock, but that may change very soon. Vodafone and Verizon stockholders will be meeting and voting as to whether or not to accept a deal proposed by Verizon to buy back that 45% of the stock that Vodafone has. Currently, the deal is sitting at $130 million, and it looks like that deal will in fact go through. After Verizon buys back their stock, it looks like AT&T will swoop in and attempt to purchase the European telecommunications giant for as much as $82 billion. AT&T clearly wants to expand their European market with this strategy, which may or may not bring about good things for us here in the US.
AT&T has not yet actually gone to Vodafone with the offer, mainly because they have been advised that it would be in their best interest to wait until after the Verizon-Vodafone deal is fully completed before attempting to do anything major. Even after Vodafone is split from Verizon, they will still be one of the top ten public companies across the pond in the United Kingdom. Because of this, some people expect the deal itself to jump up to as much as $96 billion. AT&T is not just sitting on their hands while the Verizon deal goes down, however. They have been organizing their resources to work on the inevitable regulatory, financial, and legal issues regarding this massive acquisition. Now, the only two things that stand in their way is the waiting game for Verizon to be cut free of Vodafone, and for AT&T’s board to give the whole deal a green light. Regardless of what happens, this has definitely been an interesting few months for the mobile industry. We have seen some shakeups, and they have been viewed as both good and bad. The question remains as to just how much this merger with AT&T would affect us here in the States. What do you think will happen? Should AT&T buy this company? Let us know in the comments!
Source: Phone Arena