T-Mobile and MetroPCS merger becomes official May 1st

[Ry]

T-Mobile and MetroPCS merger becomes official May 1st

Shareholders at MetroPCS made the final vote to approve the carrier marriage

After FCC approval, a planned shareholder vote, and a revised deal by T-Mobile, MetroPCS shareholders have finally voted to approve the reverse merger between the two companies. In this 'reverse merger,' the smaller company, MetroPCS, will be buying the larger T-Mobile.

Ren? Obermann, the CEO of Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile's parent company), says this is an important step in the company's plans going forward, as "it enables us to be more aggressive in the USA." With T-Mobile's recent and continuing network improvements, revamped monthly plans, and its ability to offer phones like the Galaxy S4 and iPhone, the company is working hard to improve their competitive position in the United States.

With the recent approval by MetroPCS, the deal to merge the two carriers is set to close on May 1, 2013. MetroPCS shareholders will receive $1.5 billion in advance, and get 26 percent of the shares of the newly merged company. The changes that subscribers on both ends of this deal will see are still yet to be determined. Expect more as this milestone deal develops.

 

[Hiberny]

I'm curious to see how quickly they transition Metro Customers to T-Mobile. If they get Voice over LTE working for T-Mobile towers and Metro handsets they could turn off Metro towers as soon as most people have LTE phones. I'm looking forward to the added PCS spectrum for HSPA+.

 

[sonicresidue]

Isn't Metro PCS a CDMA carrier? How will that affect things?

 

[Hiberny]

This is the way it's been explained to me, though I could be totally wrong.

At some point, they will have to give the MetroPCS customers an ultimatum about switching phones. However, before that, they can smooth the transition by selling handsets with Voice over LTE capabilities. If every customer had a VoLTE handset they could allow Metro customers to authenticate on T-Mobiles towers and shut down Metro's network and start using all the spectrum for one huge network. I don't think either T-Mobile or MetroPCS has any VoLTE tech out yet.

They could also just sell MetroPCS customers T-Mobile handset and call it a day . In many of MetroPCS's LTE areas, T-Mobile's HSPA+ is noticeably faster.

 

[Digging my htc]

So, is this merger going to effect our ( tmobile) coverage in the near future? Does Metro PCS have descent coverage in places where t-mobile doesn't? Also, does anyone know if T-mobile is expanding their coverage out in the country or are they mostly interested in getting switched over to LTE? Just wondering. I am satisfied with their plans over the other big 3, but there are still places in my area where the other big 3 have good coverage , and I don't. A lil better coverage with their new, no contract plans, will make the other guys change the way they do business.

 

[RumoredNow]

This is the way it's been explained to me, though I could be totally wrong.

At some point, they will have to give the MetroPCS customers an ultimatum about switching phones. However, before that, they can smooth the transition by selling handsets with Voice over LTE capabilities. If every customer had a VoLTE handset they could allow Metro customers to authenticate on T-Mobiles towers and shut down Metro's network and start using all the spectrum for one huge network. I don't think either T-Mobile or MetroPCS has any VoLTE tech out yet.

They could also just sell MetroPCS customers T-Mobile handset and call it a day . In many of MetroPCS's LTE areas, T-Mobile's HSPA+ is noticeably faster.

It probably is about spectrum and capacity: metroPCS LTE/AWS is using 1700 MHz downlink and 2100 MHz uplink. Mobile country code - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia That gives more capacity on those bands for LTE conversion...

metroPCS's EV-DO on 1900 can go to help keep H+ uncongested. Who knows what happens to the 2000 MHz band metro was using. Maybe lease that out to Sprint?

 

[Hiberny]

As far as I know, MetroPCS only has spectrum in the PCS band (1900 Mhz) and the AWS band (1700 and 2100 Mhz), just like T-Mobile. They do not have nationwide licenses like T-Mobile, so this will mostly boost coverage in metro areas. There are some place that MetroPCS has coverage that T-Mobile hasn't gotten around to yet (anecdotally in Michigan and Wisconsin). Let's hope that means in time they'll add that to the T-Mobile coverage map.

 

[jimmiekain]

When sprint bought nextel i was super excited because I thought i would get better coverage. 10 years later they still havent done anything with nextel. Now I'm on T-Mo so I'm just curious... Should I get my hopes up? Or are we looking at 10 years before anything happens that effects me?

FYI: I loved sprint but over the last 2 or 3 years they just got really really bad and I decided to stop giving them my money. Now that I'm on T-Mo its cool but I'd like to see better coverage.

 

[Hiberny]

T-Mobile should have a much easier time moving MetroPCS customers than Sprint with Nextel. Sprint and Nextel has two completely incompatible technologies going. With T-Mobile and MetroPCS, LTE on the AWS band will allow (some) customers to migrate seamlessly. Of course, that doesn't mean they will necessarily get it right .

 

[zorak950]

My philosophy is to keep expectations low. That way if you're surprised, it's pleasantly.

 

[Korama12]

Here is a decent description, the best one I've found yet, of what the T-Mobile/MetroPCS merger means for customers:

Ask TmoNews: What Does The MetroPCS Merger Mean For Me? | TmoNewsTmoNews

 

[yfan]

Here is a decent description, the best one I've found yet, of what the T-Mobile/MetroPCS merger means for customers:

Ask TmoNews: What Does The MetroPCS Merger Mean For Me? | TmoNewsTmoNews

Thanks for this link. This is the paragraph that caught my attention:

It?s when we get to 2015 that we see the really great spectrum play with T-Mobile and MetroPCS as both companies highlighted some 20?20 LTE spectrum coverage in some major markets around the country. In these markets, which include New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Boston, San Francisco, Tampa, Las Vegas, Orlando, Sacramento, and Detroit, LTE speeds will be twice as fast as Verizon?s LTE and 4x as fast as MetroPCS?s current network configuration.

2x Verizon's speed? Yes, please. And although T-Mobile LTE is already active in the market I'm in (San Jose), I am very satisfied with my current Nexus 4 and HSPA+ 42 speeds. If the big spectrum play and speed upgrades are coming in 2015, I think I'm going to consider waiting till the end of 2014 to get my next phone. It'd be worth the wait. Unless the Nexus 5 knocks my socks off.