The bottom is line T-Mobile knows what is said, what is going around and they are hip, hop and down with it.  T-Mobile has brought forth the message that front-line employees are to have the standard “no comment” approach to all media inquiries regarding this offer.  I am betting a reporter from the Wall Street Journal is going to a random T-Mobile retail store and hoping the employees know the exact date of IPO. Riiiiiiiight! Seriously, it is a standard message but the report has to be causing some serious headaches from the Public Relations team who, for the record still will not acknowledge this website. Guess I need to talk to someone at the Wall Street Journal. Just kidding T-Mobile, I got too much love for you. Anyways, the rumors are bound to come up again as the year pushes ahead and we await 4^th quarter results and a glimpse at the impact of the Even More/Even More Plus rate plan push.

Related Posts:

• T-Mobile IPO Possible Says The Wall Street Journal
• As 2009 Comes To A Close…
• Deutsche Telekom To Unveil 2010 Strategy, Rumors Continue
• The Merger Rumor Game Continues, This Time Without Sprint
• Lack Of 3G Network Led To Customer Fleeing

I have to say this news is not exactly surprising given that we have already heard some whisperings of Deutsche Telekom looking to make moves with its US arm. Of course, that might be under the guise of a merger, buyout or in the eyes of this article, an IPO. Way back in September an article surfaced that Deutsche Telekom majority shareholders were looking to take action in order to turn the tide on the DT US division. Things have not been so rosy for T-Mobile in recent quarters and while we await 4th quarter 2009 numbers, the rumor mill is churning yet again. According to the WSJ and unnamed sources, Deutsche Telekom is “preparing for a possible initial public offering or spinoff of its U.S. T-Mobile arm, in an effort to assuage shareholders disenchanted with the company’s share performance”

Obviously, the words “spin off” raise more alarm than IPO, as an IPO could be a way to raise significant capital. Using such capital to strengthen the network, buy up smaller competitors or move swiftly to launch a 4G network would be most welcome. A spin off however could mean various things and place T-Mobile in a precarious position as how to develop a strategy that advances them in the years to come. We should point out that all of this is speculation and that “unnamed sources” could be anyone in the organization, including the night security guard.

We should also be careful to point out that the article does make note that Deutsche Telekom is “historically risk averse” and that the company may decide that an IPO/Spin Off option isn’t the next step. Unfortunately and much to my chagrin and that of our readers is the line that says a merger with a U.S. rival could also be on the table, though less likely. When I consider the words “merger” with a US rival, I sure as hell hope someone means Sprint, Leap, MetroPCS or someone, anyone other than AT&T bringing about a single GSM operator in the US. I would just cry like a baby if that happened.

What say you on this? Anyone interested in buying T-Mobile stock?

Wall Street Journal

The full read link isn’t available thanks to the BS methods of pay per read, so hit the full article here!

Related Posts:

• Deutsche Telekom To Unveil 2010 Strategy, Rumors Continue
• T-Mobile Ain’t Nobody’s Fool
• The Merger Rumor Game Continues, This Time Without Sprint
• Now This Makes More Sense
• As 2009 Comes To A Close…

Update: I’m bringing this back to the front because as the news comes forward that T-Mobile is the launch partner for the Nexus One, where do you see T-Mobile going in 2010?

With the year ending in less than two weeks time, 2009 has been a rollercoaster for T-Mobile on any number of levels. To say that we all look forward to what will come in 2010 wouldn’t be enough of an understatement. The last few weeks have at least seen their share of exciting phone news and with that, a notion that T-Mobile may finally be ready to deliver handsets that deserve the hype they create. The Google Phone,  X10, HTC HD2 and the N900 showcase the idea that T-Mobile and their off-the-beaten path AWS bands are not to be ignored. Also, through smooth negotiating or a desire to not be a part of the AT&T disaster train, handset manufacturers see promise in the T-Mobile customer base.

Read the full story

Related Posts:

• First Week Handset Sales Comparison
• HTC HD2 Dropping With Goodies, Webconnect Rockets In
• T-Mobile IPO Possible Says The Wall Street Journal
• Apple Screws Us Again
• Take 24: iPhone Headed To T-Mobile This Summer?

As it stands, I’ll all but worn out from the rumors regarding T-Mobile and any number of arranged marriages parent company Deutsche Telekom might be considering. Whether it’s Sprint, MetroPCS or the guy who lives down the block, rumors regarding a merger/buyout have been steady in recent months. According to an article at xchangemang, Deutsche Telekom is set to announce “Strategie 2.0” in early 2010, which will “hightlight further partnerships for its T-Mobile units and more.” Of course, this could mean European units and the US branch or one without the other. The article does mention the rumors regarding T-Mobile and Sprint as evidence that Deutsche Telekom will “marry off its divisions when necessary.”

Speaking to German magazine Der Spiegel, Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann stated “I still see good growth prospects in the United States, particularly in the area of mobile internet…we want to utilize those.” While what actual utilization he is referring to remains unclear, what is becomingly increasingly clear is that T-Mobile wants to turn around its US branch sooner rather than later.

xchangemag

Related Posts:

• Now This Makes More Sense
• T-Mobile IPO Possible Says The Wall Street Journal
• The Merger Rumor Game Continues, This Time Without Sprint
• T-mobile To Buy Sprint Rumor, Take 24
• As 2009 Comes To A Close…

I must preface this and say by now, these rumors are starting to get old and frustrating. The wireless industry, which has of late seen more than its share of mergers and acquisitions, is again seeing T-Mobile take center stage in this, the latest round of merger talk. Reuters is reporting that Deutsche Telekom is seeking a partner for its U.S. branch, T-Mobile USA. Looking to shore up some help for its financial investment in US operations, possible partners again include MetroPCS and Clearwire. Surprisingly, AT&T is also mentioned as a possible partner, though I think the FCC would have some problems with one remaining GSM national carrier. A merger or acquisition of MetroPCS and Clearwire I think we can all get behind, anything that involves Magenta and the Death Star makes me want to seek out the nearest trash can. Not to be left out of the Reuters article is the mention of a Sprint takeover, which the author mentions is no longer under consideration by Deutsche Telekom, thank goodness.

While declining to comment on the Reuters article, Deutsche Telekom COO Hamid Akhavan speaking at the FT World Telecoms Conference did speak about the difficult situation in the United States.

“We have had some heavy headwinds … but we are quite optimistic that this trend can be reversed,” he said, attributing the problems to a delay in the group securing third generation networks and the population of Apple’s (AAPL.O) iPhone on a rival network.

According to the German newspaper cited by the Reuters article, Deutsche Telekom is still in the very early stages of searching for a partner but had abandoned other “potential strategies to bolster its U.S. business.”

So here were go again, more merger talk, what say you?’

Reuters

Related Posts:

• Now This Makes More Sense
• Deutsche Telekom To Unveil 2010 Strategy, Rumors Continue
• T-Mobile IPO Possible Says The Wall Street Journal
• As 2009 Comes To A Close…
• Sprint/T-Mobile Merger Rumors Continue

I do not think it is going to shock anyone that T-mobile lost a number of customers due to the lack of a proper 3G network. Deutsche Telekom’s CFO Timotheus Hoettges says, “There is no question that we lost customers because many of our customers couldn’t get 3G. We now have to make sure that we can capitalize on the network in the top 10 cities where we have invested.” The really interesting statement from Hoettges is that there is no need for “further consolidation in the US”.  This comes right at the time speculation is rampant over a possible merger with MetroPCS/Cricket/Budweiser/Sprint. Now the consolidation talk probably refers to a purchase/merger with one of the larger players, but it does not rule out gobbling up smaller, morelocalized competitors like MetroPCS. We hope that Deutsche Telekom continues to see T-mobile USA as a venture that has yet to realize its full potential and is willing to dedicate the time, money and resources to ensure that T-mobile capitalizes on the current wireless situation in the US. With Sprint fluctuating between alive and dead and AT&T and Verizon duking it out for first, it is a more than opportune time to strike with something that shakes things up. We wait to see if Project Black is indeed that strike.

Moconews

Related Posts:

• T-Mobile Ain’t Nobody’s Fool
• T-Mobile IPO Possible Says The Wall Street Journal
• As 2009 Comes To A Close…
• Deutsche Telekom To Unveil 2010 Strategy, Rumors Continue
• The Merger Rumor Game Continues, This Time Without Sprint

Now here is a deal that makes significantly more sense for Deutsche Telekom: T-mobile and Clearwire sitting in a tree.  Just a few weeks after rumors surfaced again of another Deutsche Telekom/Sprint acquisition the rumor mill turns to unnamed sources who claim talks are underway between the companies. Why does this make more sense for T-mobile you might ask? Clearwire allows T-mobile to make giant leaps forward in the 4G game where  they are already playing catch up. Clearwire, needing additional capital to continue building out its network would clearly find cash flow from any type of transaction. While Clearwire is already in bed with Sprint on the whole Wimax 4G solutions, Clearwire has stated they are open to changing directions.

On another note, concerning the above rumor, T-mobile is said to be considering a partnership with MetroPCS who also have available spectrum for a 4G solution. MetroPCS has committed to LTE, Deutsche Telekom has committed to LTE, so what will T-mobile USA do? Was the Clearwire statement regarding a change in 4g direction a pre-cursor to merger movement or just a blanket statement that they are keeping their options open? Time will tell if this rumor has more muscle than the previous 63 Sprint buyout rumors, but one thing is for sure, T-mobile needs to turn things around and fast.

Moconews

Related Posts:

• Deutsche Telekom To Unveil 2010 Strategy, Rumors Continue
• The Merger Rumor Game Continues, This Time Without Sprint
• T-Mobile IPO Possible Says The Wall Street Journal
• T-Mobile Considering Partnership With Clearwire
• As 2009 Comes To A Close…

It’s only been a few days since the recent round of rumors peg Deutsche Telekom looking into acquisition of Sprint and yet, another option has presented itself. Unfortunately, though this option has a much less positive spin than the acquisition of the third and fourth place wireless players in the US would have.  Coming on the heels of the T-mobile UK merger with Orange in the UK, the two big shareholders for Deutsche Telekom are beginning to shift their attention to the US brand. While this story may be a premature for any real/serious concern, it does show that T-mobile USA needs to step their game up, NOW. The key factor here is seemingly mid 2010; the timeframe set the German Government and Blackstone private equity group, the two major shareholders of Deutsche Telekom to turn around their American division. At that point, if T-mobile has not made a turnaround in its business, that strategic decisions would be forced by the shareholders. However, at this point it needs to be made clear that any options that might be considered to transform the T-mobile USA unit are not on the table.

Information Week and Engadget

Read the full story

Related Posts:

• The Merger Rumor Game Continues, This Time Without Sprint

This rumor seems to pop up every time the wind blows in a certain direction. T-mobile wants to acquire Sprint, Sprint wants to acquire T-mobile, Sprint and T-mobile dance the Samba etc etc. Deutsche Telekom (T-mobile USA parent company) has a market value six times that of Sprint and while Sprint seems to be on a roll these days with a bounty of surprisingly affordable yet all encompassing plans combined with a super star winter lineup they hemorrhage customers at every turn. Any tech blogger or tech fan in general immediately jumps at the notion to point the incompatibility of the two company’s networks, CDMA and GSM. Considering Sprint doesn’t exactly have a strong record of accomplishment merging companies with incompatible networks we can at least be thankful T-mobile is leading this dance. That being said, there are still an unfathomable amount of questions as to how this would work, what would this do to the wireless landscape with only three major players. Telegraph UK, the newspaper responsible for this round of rumors reports that the Deutsche Telekom has called in Deutsche Bank in preparation for an offer for Sprint. This could get very interesting, very quickly and while the prospect of jumping right onto AT&T’s back with a customer base that rivals their own makes my heart fill with joy, that doesn’t mean it’s the smart play. If I were the boys at the FCC I’d want to see the best damn play by play integration schematic ever created by man on how exactly this merger would work.

Telegraph UK

Interestingly enough, this report comes hot on the heels of a PCWorld story, which all but bashed T-mobile USA proclaiming “T-mobile has little to offer US mobile providers.” Well sorry Tony Bradley, I disagree and I’m sure I speak on behalf of all Tmonews readers. While T-mobile’s 3G network continues to roll out at a furious pace onward toward its 2009 goal of 250 million POP’s it has yet to really turn the T-mobile image around. The dominant player in the Android game thus far has also failed to really give T-mobile the same type of customer rush AT&T has felt with the iPhone deep in its pocket. On the positive side, T-mobile continues to roll with JD power award after JD power award, for both customer service and call quality. Unfortunately, those awards don’t seem to materialize in significant gains for our beloved magenta. I received a very insightful email from a reader two days ago who made two very interest points that I would like to consider, 1) The Microsoft experience shows that inattention to details and poor user experience can relegate even a dominant player to the sidelines over time. On the other hand 2) Apple shows that even a small player with a well-developed idea can grow rapidly. With Sprint still suffering from the stigma of failed customer service and a plagued wireless network, with AT&T taking nothing but a beating in the press lately T-mobile is in the perfect position to capitalize on its strengths. For all its network awards, Verizon still suffers from the image of uber-expense and while T-mobile who rivals Verizon in almost every JD power award and has prices less than that of Verizon has yet to really exert that power. Forwarding customers to billshrink simply isn’t the right move, it’s not going to produce a sudden influx of millions of customers. That needs to happen by reputation, reliability and marketing. T-mobile needs to do more to showcase the strengths it has rather than its weaknesses and any good tech blogger worth a damn will tell you, pick the carrier first, and phone second. Whatever the end result of a Deutsche Telekom/Sprint Merger is, T-mobile USA needs to focus on the now, and what it can do without spending billions of dollars to swallow up one large competitor or a handful of tiny ones. Android is great, but it’s not the end all be all of wireless, T-mobile is ripe to make a move on both Sprint and AT&T without spending billions to acquire either. AT&T will continue to shoot itself in the foot with the iPhone network woes and Sprint, well Sprint will be Sprint and lose customers no matter what they bring to the table. So T-mobile, spend the money, don’t spend the money but acting fast to take advantage of one of the most exciting times in wireless isn’t just a recommendation right now, it’s a full blown necessity.

Related Posts:

• Deutsche Telekom To Unveil 2010 Strategy, Rumors Continue
• T-Mobile IPO Possible Says The Wall Street Journal
• As 2009 Comes To A Close…
• The Merger Rumor Game Continues, This Time Without Sprint
• T-Mobile Considering Partnership With Clearwire