Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile’s parent company, just reported their quarterly earnings and as expected, T-Mobile US was a driving force in their profits for the quarter. But on the earnings call, Deutsche Telekom’s CEO, Tim Hoettges had something interesting to say in regards to T-Mobile US. And it comes right after SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son stated that he would like to begin talking with T-Mobile about a merger or acquisition with Sprint. Hoettges noted that T-Mobile will very likely be in merger talks very soon, especially now that the incentive auction and the quiet period is over.
Hoettges said that “we can see several advantages to consolidation and convergence.” But he also noted that due to the strong position that T-Mobile US is now in, it gives them “the time and space to evaluate all options together with colleagues in the US.” So while it seemed like Deutsche Telekom may still be in a rush to dump T-Mobile US, it doesn’t appear so. They are basically looking for the best option for T-Mobile and themselves. Seeing as Deutsche Telekom didn’t say they were looking to sell T-Mobile, but they were looking at consolidation, so there is a chance that they could be looking to acquire another company, perhaps Sprint. Currently, Deutsche Telekom owns around 64% of T-Mobile US.
For quite a while, T-Mobile wasn’t doing so well in the US, and Deutsche Telekom was looking to get out of the US. They attempted to sell the company to AT&T, which regulators then blocked and T-Mobile gained a big pay day as well as a huge amount of spectrum. Which was the beginning of their turnaround. They they hired John Legere in late 2012, which led the charge from making T-Mobile US the biggest thorn in Deutsche Telekom’s side to being their best bet at making a big profit each quarter. And now that T-Mobile US is doing so well, Deutsche Telekom can really sit back and let the merger talk come to them. Which appears to be what Hoettges is planning to do with T-Mobile, especially as rumors begin to heat up about Sprint wanting to merge with T-Mobile, again.