Apple's Beats brand in April unveiled the Powerbeats Pro, a redesigned wire-free version of its popular fitness-oriented Powerbeats earbuds.
Sprint Abandons Plans to Purchase T-Mobile
Sprint is abandoning plans to purchase T-Mobile US, reports The Wall Street Journal. According to the site, Sprint and its parent company Softbank believe it would be too hard to gain regulatory approval for the deal, with Sprint planning to make an announcement on Wednesday.Sprint Corp. is ending its pursuit of T-Mobile US, according to people familiar with the matter. The company and its parent, SoftBank Corp. decided it simply would be too difficult to win approval from regulators, the people said.News that Sprint was working on a potential purchase of T-Mobile US first came in December of 2013, when The Wall Street Journal suggested Sprint was preparing a takeover bid. The deal, which could have been worth more than $20 billion, would have been subjected to significant regulatory scrutiny.
In fact, the United States Justice Department met with Sprint board members to discuss the deal and expressed concerns about the merger. U.S. antitrust authorities reportedly believe that having four national carriers is necessary to maintain a competitive market.
Japanese carrier Softbank purchased a 70 percent controlling interest in Sprint back in 2012, while T-Mobile is majority owned by German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom. According to Bloomberg, Sprint will also be announcing a new CEO as soon as tomorrow, as current CEO Dan Hesse is said to be out following the failed merger.
This is the second time a T-Mobile purchase has fallen through. AT&T previously attempted to acquire T-Mobile but the deal fell through after being blocked by Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice.
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66 months ago
Oh good, now I can switch from Sprint to T-Mo without fear of falling back to where I started.
66 months ago
Only disappointing thing to me about this is that T-Mobile got such a nice boost from the AT&T merger failing ;) (money and spectrum). I didn't think this would go through but I'm fine not risking it either.
Speaking for myself as a T-Mobile user (and possibly others)-- we'd rather not get stuck with Sprint (again). Left them 3 years ago and haven't looked back. I like how T-Mobile is rolling these days.
I'm not advocating this merger, but this is the #3 and #4 merging, which would still, combined, be a lot smaller than #2, right? Why is that such a huge problem?
Speaking for myself as a T-Mobile user (and possibly others)-- we'd rather not get stuck with Sprint (again). Left them 3 years ago and haven't looked back. I like how T-Mobile is rolling these days.
66 months ago
I'm glad. I'm switching carriers in September when the iPhone 6 drops and T-Mobile was off the table due to Sprint possibly merging. Now they are back on the table.
66 months ago
Good!
Sprint's just as anti-consumer as Verizon, with a crappier network than T-Mobile (at least in Cali) -- worst of all worlds. As T-Mobile has rapidly ramped up their LTE coverage and continued with their aggressive "Uncarrier" moves, last I would want to see (as a T-Mobile customer) is the company basically placed into a limbo state while regulators decide whether or not to approve the merger.
They've been going pedal-to-the-metal for the past year and a half, and the results have been positive for consumers, as even customers on other carriers now have better plan options than before. I don't want to see that momentum blunted by the uncertainty of a merger.
Sprint's just as anti-consumer as Verizon, with a crappier network than T-Mobile (at least in Cali) -- worst of all worlds. As T-Mobile has rapidly ramped up their LTE coverage and continued with their aggressive "Uncarrier" moves, last I would want to see (as a T-Mobile customer) is the company basically placed into a limbo state while regulators decide whether or not to approve the merger.
They've been going pedal-to-the-metal for the past year and a half, and the results have been positive for consumers, as even customers on other carriers now have better plan options than before. I don't want to see that momentum blunted by the uncertainty of a merger.
66 months ago
Thank God. I have T-Mobile right now, and I didn't want this merger to go through at ALL. If anything, I would've preferred T-Mobile to take over Sprint. I just couldn't see Sprint buying T-mobile after all the effort T-mo has done with the Uncarrier ever since June 2013.
For those of you complaining about coverage as of now, T-mobile is upgrading ALL 2G to the latest 4G LTE starting about a month ago. So as much as it sucks, just stick with it. At the end of this year, or earlier, hopefully your area is covered.
TEAM MAGENTA! BEST carrier in the game right now, hands down.
For those of you complaining about coverage as of now, T-mobile is upgrading ALL 2G to the latest 4G LTE starting about a month ago. So as much as it sucks, just stick with it. At the end of this year, or earlier, hopefully your area is covered.
TEAM MAGENTA! BEST carrier in the game right now, hands down.
66 months ago
not surprising...
I don't see how this merger would've worked anyway considering how Sprint phones are CDMA based while T-Mobile is GSM based? Unless of course Sprint just wanted to buy up spectrum at the expense phasing out T-Mobile's GSM network, so I think this non-merger is a win for USA customers.
That, and I'm happy for T-Mobile remaining on it's own, they're doing good to help shake up the U.S. market. :cool:
I don't see how this merger would've worked anyway considering how Sprint phones are CDMA based while T-Mobile is GSM based? Unless of course Sprint just wanted to buy up spectrum at the expense phasing out T-Mobile's GSM network, so I think this non-merger is a win for USA customers.
That, and I'm happy for T-Mobile remaining on it's own, they're doing good to help shake up the U.S. market. :cool:
66 months ago
Looks like Dan Hesse is out too. Sprint is expected to announce a new CEO as soon as tomorrow. Reportedly he's being let go for his inability to close the T-mobile deal.
This is good news all around. Sprint and T-mobile have similar coverage so merging wouldn't exactly benefit any consumers. Now Son will have to prove his worth and turn Sprint around into a viable competitor from within.
This is good news all around. Sprint and T-mobile have similar coverage so merging wouldn't exactly benefit any consumers. Now Son will have to prove his worth and turn Sprint around into a viable competitor from within.
66 months ago
It isn't exactly accurate to say that the merger with AT&T was "blocked" by the FCC and DoJ. The DoJ did sue on anticompetitive grounds, but at the time AT&T swore they'd prove in court that the merger would not harm competition. In the end AT&T decided to drop the merger plan, claiming that it was "blocked" by the government. But in reality they simply decided to give it up.
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