Well, I guess that's one way to get an iPhone on T-Mobile...
Here’s the release with the details of the deal. AT&T will pay roughly $39 billion to Deutsche Telekom for T-Mobile USA. Deutsche Telekom will also get a roughly 8 percent ownership stake in AT&T as a result of the deal. And a Deutsche Telekom executive will join AT&T’s Board.
With the deal, AT&T will get access to T-Mobile’s roughly 35 million customers. If the two fully merge, this will push AT&T far past Verizon in terms of subscriber numbers. Currently, Verizon has about 100 million subscribers in the U.S., while AT&T has about 95 million. This deal will also leave Sprint as the lone large outsider, with about 50 million subscribers.
Lovely.
I'm not really sure how much there is for me to add to this news, as the downside in terms of competition, innovation, net neutrality and increased corporatism write themselves.
So, like a blob of mercury, or the T-1000 from Terminator 2, the AT&T Breakup of 1982 (officially the "Bell System Divsestiture") is effectively 2 steps away from coming full circle.