Vodafone told the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag over the weekend that it is not a good time to buy T-Mobile USA. The sale has been rumored since the beginning of the month. At issue is whether the company wants to spend the money to upgrade its network to 3G, or sell it to whoever is willing to do so.

Arun Sarin, CEO of Vodafone said, "This would not be a good time. T-Mobile is the last of four competitors and it does not have a third generation mobile network. This is a difficult situation." Sarin also said his company was satisfied with its current mobile phone partner in the United States, Verizon, which is much larger than T-Mobile USA.