On October 3, 2012, Deutsche Telekom which is the parent company of T-Mobile USA, said that it has joined hands with prepaid regional carrier MetroPCS. The agreement has mentioned that the MetroPCS shareholders will get $1.5 billion in cash and a 26 percent stake in the joint company.
The remaining 74 percent of the company will be owned by Deutsche Telekom. A regulatory approval is needed for the deal, which has to come from the Federal Communications Commission and the US Department of Justice.
The deal is expected to close during the second half of the 2013. Rene Obermann, the chief executive officer of Deutsche Telekom in a statement said, “We are extremely pleased to announce this transaction with MetroPCS, which enhances Deutsche Telekom’s position in the expanding U.S. wireless market”.
The statement added, “The T-Mobile and MetroPCS brands are a great strategic fit – both operationally and culturally. The new company will be the value leader in wireless with the scale, spectrum and financial and other resources to expand its geographic coverage, broaden choice among all types of customers and continue to innovate, especially around the next-generation LTE network.” The Deutsche Telekom hopes that combining the two smaller wireless providers will help to compete with other telecom operators.
