T-Mobile Merging With MetroPCS 86
Daetrin writes "Last year T-Mobile tried to merge with AT&T but the deal was blocked by the FCC. Now T-Mobile and MetroPCS have agreed to merge in a $1.5 billion deal. There doesn't seem to be much concern that the FCC will disagree with this deal, perhaps because the two companies combined will have a user base of 42.5 million, which will still be smaller than the #3 player Sprint's 56.4 million. Because the two companies have similar spectrum holdings T-Mobile claims the merger will allow them to offer better coverage. They also say they will continue to offer a range of both on and off-contract plans."
Combined spectrum is a good thing... (Score:2, Informative)
I'm sorry to those folk on MetroPCS that have a "cool deal" that's just right for them, that may be swallowed up into "like but not quite matching" T-Mobile billing plans. I know this can be annoying.
That said, AT&T's problem (and reason for wanting to buy T-Mobile) was bandwidth starvation. The GSM carrirers are obligated to keep some spectrum on 2G, have a large base of phones on 3G, and desperately need LTE to meet their future bandwidth needs. So any spectrum they can buy/merge with while meeting their current obligations, can all be 4G. It's like an increase in discretionary spending, even a 25% increase in net income significantly improves your quality of life. In some places they'll have 50% more bandwidth than AT&T and 50% fewer customers. Even if you have to pay $5 a month more for your newly-mergered data plan, I think when you look over at another booth in the restaurant and see the occupant watching a pixelated 480x320 Netflix episode on his fabulous Retina Display... and your Nexus 7 wifi-linked to your phone is wall to wall sharp pixels, it will feel like win.
Re:what AT&T needed (Score:4, Informative)
You're seriously suggesting that AT&T [opensecrets.org], with their $4.5 million in contributions (20th largest) this election cycle and $31 million in lobbying (5th largest) in the last 2 years alone, doesn't know how to lobby effectively?
Re:As a T-Mobile customer, I'm opposed to this mer (Score:5, Informative)
*sigh*
OK, here's the deal.
When you subscribe - which you did originally to remove ads and to block people commenting on your journals that you'd rather not - you get one additional perk which is to see the articles 30 minutes early. They appear with red banners. And thus you have time to craft an "on topic" early post.
There's no conspiracy, and I've been a Slashdotter for over a decade now as my comment history and tiny six digit user ID (I remember when that would have been a joke...) demonstrates. You'll also find, if you're that paranoid that you have to read it all, that I've been a T-Mobile customer for nearly a decade now, and have commented as such, repeatedly.
Re:As a T-Mobile customer, I'm opposed to this mer (Score:4, Informative)
Same experience here. I've had T-Mobile for over 12 years (from when they were Voicestream). I'm currently on a Galaxy Nexus unlocked and purchased straight from Google on a $50/month unlimited voice/data/text plan.