T-Mobile Merging With MetroPCS

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."

Comments

But the real question is.

[Anonymous Coward]

Will they keep Carly Foulkes?

As a T-Mobile customer, I'm opposed to this merger

[squiggleslash]

Because the two companies have similar spectrum holdings T-Mobile claims the merger will allow them to offer better coverage.

And therein is the lie. Because the FCC hasn't, to the best of my knowledge, allowed a merger in recent history between a major carrier and a smaller one without imposing the requirement that substantial amounts of overlapping spectrum be disposed of. Both carriers have nationwide AWS, and while MetroPCS's PCS spectrum is more limited, it exists mostly in areas that T-Mobile already has coverage.

So what does this mean in practice? It means:

- Less competition - less incentive to reduce prices or improve services
- Another round of layoffs, probably numbering in the thousands, possibly tens of thousands.
- More customers on less spectrum, with at least initially multiple network standards making spectrum sharing even harder.
- More costly spectrum refarming
- Either maintenance of four largely incompatible networks (2GSM, IS95/2000, UMTS, and LTE) or the migration of all IS95/2000 customers to 2GSM/UMTS/LTE, at considerable cost.
- Funds spent on the above that could be spent on rolling out 3G to uncovered areas, or rolling out LTE. Or improving their deteriorating customer service.

Oh, and to add insult to injury, there'll be one less alternative existing T-Mobile customers can jump to in the event T-Mobile gets worse. Which it will.

Also, from a phone geek's PoV, this is a merger between a company that's always been hostile towards customers having control over their own devices, and one that used to be liberal on the subject but has become more and more controlling lately. And directors of the former will be taking up prominent roles in the new company.

This is a terrible, terrible, idea, and the people behind it are terrible, terrible, people.