With the Sprint-Nextel merger reportedly off the table, Deutsche Telekom (DT), T-Mobile U.S. parent company is seeking partners to help finance its network expansion. T-Mobile is building out its 3G network with plans to upgrade its network to HSPA+ to handle the burgeoning growth in mobile data.
The German telecom giant is reporting looking at AT&T Mobility, Clearwire, and MetroPCS as possible partners – at first blush, the obvious choice is AT&T as both have the same GSM technology and seem to be migrating to 4G along the same path. On the flip side, both Clearwire and Metro PCS are potential partners due to significant spectrum holdings; technology issues may preclude the latter 2 as Clearwire is using WiMAX and MetroPCS CDMA which aren’t compatible with T-Mobile’s GSM/EDGE/HSPA+ network infrastructure. The view that DT may be using Clearwire and MetroPCS spectrum to build out it’s 4G network and it’s deep pockets may just make this a reality.
All of this comes on the heels of Q3 results showing T-Mobile further losing ground to Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint, with their struggles more apparent with losing 77,000 subscribers in the quarter; DT isn’t known for sitting idly by while they lose market share, so expect something to transpire soon.
T-Mobile is banking on new, low-cost, unlimited plans plus new Android smartphones such as the Motorola Cliq to stem the losses; will it be enough to get them competitive with the other, much larger competitors?
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