RSSSunCom, T-Mobile USA Agree to Tie The Knot
by Ed Oswald
Deutsche Telekom, the parent company of T-Mobile USA, said Monday it had agreed to acquire Southeastern US carrier SunCom for $1.6 billion USD in cash.
The deal, announced Monday, is still subject to regulatory approval. It is guaranteed to have shareholder approval however, the two companies said, due to the fact that two investment companies owning more than 50 percent of the stock in the company have committed to vote in favor.
SunCom owns and operates networks in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. As of the end of the second quarter it had about 1.1 million customers, with $242.5 million in revenue.
"The strategic fit of the SunCom operations will make this a near-perfect acquisition." T-Mobile USA president and CEO Robert Dotson said. "It will round out our domestic footprint, allowing us to serve 98 of the top 100 markets, and will significantly benefit our financial position by reducing roaming expense."
Roaming expenses have been an issue for T-Mobile USA, as it lags far behind its competitors in available spectrum. While it came out a big winner in last year's auctions, the company still has quite a bit of catching up to do.
As of the end of the second quarter, the company had about 27 million customers, placing it fourth among the major US wireless carriers.
It is likely that SunCom will not be T-Mobile USA's last acquisition. In March, Deustche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann said that the company planned to make acquisitions in the mobile phone sector. Several regional GSM carriers other than SunCom remain, although with the rash of consolidation recently, they are beginning to become somewhat of a rarity.
5 Comments
I live in Columbia, SC and travel to Atlanta often so I am glad for the merger since i will have coverage in the ATL now. I have had the UNPLAN for over 3 years and DO NOT want to change. Forget Fave 5, I am a small business owner and my 5 contacts would have to change continuously. I just like picking up my phone day or night, talking, and paying my same $79 each month.
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I hope I don't have to get a new phone. I had to get a new one when att became suncom in north carolina. I must say that T mobile does have some nice ones.
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SunCom...... love the bill ....hate the service.....I hope this will improve our service, but does not effect the rate plan much.
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I've been waiting for this for a long time. My main office is in North Carolina and I work in Richmond which put T-Mobile on a back burner for lack of coverage in the Carolinas. I frequently enough travel to Austria that I have to have a GSM phone and T-Mobile is the most Germany/Austria friendly. It seems like the SunCom deal was inevitable for at least a year now, I'm glad they finally announced it the month my Verizon contract is going to run out, and on my Birthday at that!
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Woohoo.. mobile 2 mobile in NC & SC. Will Harry Connick Jr. be sing the TMobile jingle.
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