AT&T DROPS BID TO ACQUIRE T-MOBILE

AT&T says it is ending its $39 billion bid to buy T-Mobile USA after facing fierce government objections. AT&T's purchase of T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom of Germany would have made it the largest cellphone company in the U.S. AT&T is currently the country's second-largest wireless carrier, while T-Mobile is the fourth-largest.
The Justice Department sued to block the merger on Aug. 31, saying it would reduce competition and lead to higher prices. Last month, the companies withdrew their application to the Federal Communications Commission after its chairman also opposed the deal.

It is unclear if AT&T will still have to pay T-Mobile the exhorbitant break up fee or not. Also in question is the rumor about AT&T and T-Mobile creating a joint venture.

SPRINT FORMALLY ASKS FCC TO BLOCK AT&T/T-MOBILE MERGER

Sprint’s already been very vocal about its opposition to AT&T’s planned purchase of T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom, but on Tuesday the carrier officially asked the Federal Communications Commission to step in and block the purchase. In its 377-page filing, Sprint argued that the acquisition would make AT&T the nation’s largest carrier with a total of 118 million subscribers and a 43% grip on the postpaid market.

The carrier added that Verizon and AT&T would earn 78% of all wireless revenues and the “Twin Bell” duopoly would have an 82% grasp of the postpaid market, making it difficult for other carriers such as Sprint to compete.

AT&T, meanwhile, has argued that the acquisition will create jobs, will not stifle competition, and will help deliver high-speed wireless broadband to 97% of U.S. residents.

AT&T BUYING T-MOBILE

AT&T, the nation’s second largest wireless provider, has just announced that it will acquire T-Mobile USA from parent company Deutsche Telekom in a cash and stock deal worth approximately $39 billion. With all of the talk of Sprint and T-Mobile joining up, the AT&T news comes out of the blue — though strategically it makes more sense due to both carriers’ spectrum and network technology.

It has been widely reported that Deutsche Telekom was looking to get rid of T-Mobile USA for various reasons. AT&T has also committed to delivering LTE to an additional 46 million people with the T-Mobile acquisition, promising to cover close to 95% of the U.S. population with LTE wireless services in the future. The deal is expected to close, pending regulatory approval, within the next 12 months.

Sprint quickly fired off statement to express their opposition to the merger. “The combination of AT&T and T-Mobile USA, if approved by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC), would alter dramatically the structure of the communications industry,” writes Sprint. “AT&T and Verizon are already by far the largest wireless providers. A combined AT&T and T-Mobile would be almost three times the size of Sprint, the third largest wireless competitor.”

The company went on to say that the merged GSM carriers, along with Verizon Wireless, would control nearly 80% of the postpaid wireless market in the United States. AT&T’s CEO, Ralph de la Vega, has said that the deal should be approved by both government bodies based on historical precedence. “I think if the criteria that has been used in the past is used against this merger, I think the appropriate authorities will find there will still be plenty of competition left,” said de la Vega in a statement to Mobilized. Should the merger fall through, AT&T could owe Deutsche Telekom as much as $3 billion.

RUMOR: SPRINT TO ACQUIRE T-MOBILE

Bloombergis reporting that Sprint is in talks to buy mobile rival T-Mobile. Citing multiple anonymous sources, Bloomberg claims discussions between Sprint and Deutsche Telekom, the owner of T-Mobile, have been taking place on and off for some time, and one of the major areas of dispute is T-Mobile USA’s valuation. Should Sprint and Deutsche Telekom eventually come to terms, the deal would reportedly give Deutsche Telekom a sizable stake in Sprint Nextel Corp. following the merger — up to 50%. Sprint declined to comment on the report, while a Deutsche Telekom spokesperson said only that the company “could sell all or part of the U.S. business, and all options are open.”

T-MOBILE UPDATES DATA PLANS

It is no secret T-Mobile was going to update its data plans. We now know, thanks to TmoNews, what that update includes. T-Mobile's new monthly plans include 200MB, 5GB and 10GB options for $29.99, $49.99 and $79.99 respectively. The new webConnect plans, which will take affect March 13th, will also allow users to bundle existing voice line plans with webConnect plans for additional savings. When bundled, the prices drop to $23.99 for the 200MB plan, $39.99 for 5GB plan, and $63.99 for 10GB plan. The new plans will go into effect on March 13th.

What is interesting is the 5GB and 10GB plans have no overage fee, however T-Mobile will throttle your speed when you go over your limit. The 200MB plan has a $0.10/MB overage charge with no throttling.

VERIZON WINS J.D. POWER AWARD FOR BEST CALL QUALITY....AGAIN

J.D. Power has just released its latest study on customer satisfaction with wireless carriers. It addresses such things as dropped calls, failures to connect, voice distortion, echoes, static, and late-arriving text messages, and ultimately churns out a rating out of five stars relative to the regional average and other carriers.

In testing done between July and December last year, Verizon had the best or tied for the best satisfaction ratings in five of the six studied areas, while AT&T and Sprint traded blows for second and T-Mobile had to admit defeat as the laggard of the top four.

US Cellular managed to score highest in the North Central region, but J.D. Power's overall assessment isn't very rosy for any of the carriers -- the stats collector says growing smartphone usage, heavy texting and more indoor calls are collectively causing call quality to stagnate, and even warns that "increased adoption of smartphones and wireless tablets may continue to compromise the quality of network service."

T-MOBILE KILLS SIDEKICK

T-Mobile has promised an "easy transition" for Sidekick owners once Danger's long-running cloud service was shut down later this spring, and we now finally have the details on exactly what that transition will entail. According to a letter sent to Sidekick owners and obtained by TmoNews, the carrier will be offering either fifty percent off "select" Samsung phones purchased on a new two-year contract, or a waived early termination fee between March 31st and May 31st for those that prefer to just pack up and go elsewhere.

T-MOBILE ELIMINATING FLEXPAY PLANS

Not a lot is known at this time, but T-Mobile will be phasing out its FlexPay plans. A tipster over at BGRis saying that T-Mobile should be announcing soon what, if anything, will be replacing these plans.

FlexPay allowed users to get "all the benefits of our best wireless plans, including our Unlimited and FamilyTime® plans—without deposits, activation fees, or overages. Plus you will never be surprised by big overage charges because you cannot go over your plans Whenever Minutes."

LG UNVEILS THE G-SLATE TABLET

LG wants to lead the pack of Android tablets and unveiled its newest (and first) entry in that segment, the G-Slate. This 8.9-inch powerhouse packs a 1Ghz dual-core Tegra 2 chipset behind a 3D display, running Android 3 (Honeycomb).

The Tegra 2 chipset gives the G-Slate the ability to show 720p HD and 3D content while also having the power to output in 1080p HD and 3D content to TVs and displays. The rear camera is a 5 megapixal stereoscopic 3D beast able to record 3D video in 1080p. The bad news is the 3D will require the use of glasses.

The G-Slate also has a two-megapixel frontside camera for video conferencing, and 32 gigs of storage space. And, as with most tablets and smartphones these days, it also comes equipped with a gyroscope and accelerometer.

The G-Slate will be coming to T-Mobile this spring. No word on pricing.

LEAKED: T-MOBILE TAKES ANOTHER $50 OFF SAMSUNG'S GALAXY TABLET

With a slew of new tablets launching within the next few months T-Mobile has dropped the price of the soon to be outdated Samsung Galaxy tab another $50 to $250 according to TmoNews. This new price requires a 2-year commitment with the no contract price staying at $500.

Over 100 new tablets were introduced at CES this year and this is likely a move to help clear the existing stock to make room for new devices like the LG Slate. With the new devices most likely having high specs and most running Android 3.0 Honeycomb, the not even six month old Galaxy tab will look outdated and outclassed.

WINDOWS PHONE 7 SELLING "EXCELLENT" ACCORDING TO DEUTSCHE TELEKOM

A few weeks ago we reported on an LG executive stating that they were disappointed with Windows Phone 7. The executive said Microsoft's new mobile OS has potential, but sales are not meeting expectations and that some people may find it "boring".

Deutsche Telekom, the German mobile phone carrier and owner of T-Mobile Europe and partner in T-Mobile US, has stated Windows Phone 7 sales have been excellent and “We are ahead of budget, Microsoft is very pleased,” Deutsche Telekom’s head of consumer marketing Ingo Hofacker said at a CeBIT preview in Munich.

Of course Hofacker was referring to European sales and not US or global, while the LG comment was based on LG's global sales.

T-MOBILE YEARS AWAY FROM LTE

T-Mobile is sticking with HSPA+ for the long haul, Bloombergreports — or at least for another few years. While major competitors build out LTE and WiMAX 4G networks, T-Mobile will continue to focus on its HSPA+ 4G network. T-Mobile has already stated that it intends to double the theoretical limit on the download side of its HSPA+ network from 21Mbps to 42Mbps in 2011. That speed increase and possible subsequent improvements to the carrier’s HSPA+ gear will have to suffice for “a few years” according to T-Mobile executives.

T-Mobile’s data network does not yet have to deal with the congestion seen on other networks, so high-speed HSPA+ is more than sufficient for the carrier at the moment. Other more congested networks have a more urgent need to deploy LTE and WiMAX, which can accommodate a greater number of simultaneous data connections with less of an impact on performance.

T-MOBILE CONSIDERING SELLING CELL TOWERS TO RAISE FUNDS FOR CAPITAL SPENDING

During a speech today in New York City, Deutsche Telecom CEO, Rene Obermann, told investors that T-Mobile USA would consider “selling nonstrategic assets such as its broadcast cellular towers in order to raise additional funds for capital spending.” We were under the distinct impression that cellular towers were, in fact, capital assets (especially for a wireless provider). It is also a little disconcerting that the towers were referred to as “nonstrategic.”

“We’re definitely not in a rush,” said Olbermann, “the financials [would have to] work out.”

T-Mobile USA’s CEO, Phillip Humm, promised investors $3 billion in revenue growth over the next few years; T-Mobile’s revenues have been, for the most part, flat over the past two years.

HTC THUNDERBOLT FIRST VERIZON PHONE TO DO VOICE AND DATA SIMULTANEOUSLY

At CES, Verizon had mentioned that "some... but not all" of its first LTE handsets would support the simultaneous use of voice and data. That's not news for 3G customers on T-Mobile and AT&T, nor WiMAX customers on Sprint -- but for Verizon subscribers, this is a very novel concept, indeed. Well, we can chalk up the mighty ThunderBolt from HTC as one of the models that'll support it, if leaked training materials for the phone over on Android Central are to be believed. On a related note, the very existence of these materials gives us hope that we'll be seeing it on store shelves before too long.

T-MOBILE'S G2 IS NOW....FREE!

T-Mobile has slashed the price of their hot Android powered G2 with Google phone to zero. That's right! If you order online, it will cost you nothing, nada, zip, zilch, except for the two year contract.

The G2 with Google is a 4G smartphone with a Snapdragon processor running Android 2.2 (Froyo). Other specs include:

• 512MB RAM
• 4GB internal storage
• 8GB external SD card,bexpandable up to 32GB
• 3.7" TFT WVGA display (800x480)
• Slide-out QWERTY keyboard
• Bluetooth
• WiFi b/g/n
• 5MP camera w/LED flash, autofocus and digital zoom
• Camcorder, 720p, 30fps
• 1300mAh Li-ion battery

HTC & VERIZON FASTEST TO UPDATE ANDROID

ComputerWorld has published a study that sheds some light on which manufacturer and wireless carrier in the U.S. provide Android users with operating system updates in the most timely fashion. Data was collected on handsets released by AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon from 2009 through 2010. The report examines how many phones were upgraded to Froyo (Android 2.2), how many days it took to receive this upgrade, and what percentage devices are still waiting. The study indicates that HTC has delivered the most Android 2.2 updates to its handsets (50%) while Motorola updates its devices the fastest (54.5 days after 2.2 announcement). In terms of carriers, Verizon took the top spot — taking just 58 days on average to push out 2.2 updates — and was followed by Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T respectively. The report notes, “Between June and December, AT&T failed to upgrade a single one of its nine Android phones.”

CONSUMERS CONFUSED BY WHAT 4G MEANS ACCORDING TO NIELSEN

One of the buzzwords emerging here at this year's Consumer Electronics Show is 4G; just today, Verizon Wireless unveiled 10 new 4G LTE devices. But does the average person even really know what that means?

A recent Nielsen study found that 83 percent of the 2,100 people it polled were aware of 4G technology, but only 51 percent actually understood what 4G entailed.
The confusion shouldn't be all that surprising; even the experts have gone back and forth over the definition recently.

In October, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) proclaimed that only LTE-Advanced and WiMAX 2 (802.16m) qualified as 4G, meaning that 4G networks being advertised by Sprint, MetroPCS, Verizon, and T-Mobile actually weren't. Two months later, however, the ITU reversed course and loosened its definition of 4G to include LTE, WiMax, and HSPA+.

When Nielsen asked respondents to define 4G, many of them sided with the ITU's original definition. About 54 percent said 4G was mobile data speeds of more than 100 MBits/s. "However, "no carrier worldwide currently reaches speeds that high," Nielsen said. Some people, meanwhile, also confused the "4" in iPhone 4 to mean that it's a 4G phone (it's not).
Perhaps confusion will be good for business, though. Nielsen said that almost 3 in 10 consumers said they would buy a 4G device in the next 12 months.

T-MOBILE PUSHING GOOGLE ANDROID 3.0 WITH 8 VIDEOS

Someone over at T-Mobile has a too much time on their hands. They have posted 8 videos covering Google's Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) tablet OS.

First Look: Google Android 3.0 (Honeycomb)



Android 3.0 Overview



Gmail



Maps



YouTube



Browser



Books



GTalk

iPAD SUBSIDIES FAILING IN UK

As rumors of iPad subsidies becoming available from U.S. carriers this year gain momentum, The Times reports that similar strategies in the U.K. do not appear to be paying off in the short term. Orange, T-Mobile and Three each recently began offering discounts on the iPad Wi-Fi + 3G when purchased alongside a new service contract. The 16 GB iPad model, which typically costs £529 in the U.K., is available for just £199 when purchased with a £25-per-month data plan. While sales performance at T-Mobile and Three is still a bit of a mystery, The Times reports that Orange sold just 1,000 subsidized iPads during the first week of availability. The sales figure has not been confirmed by Orange, but if it is anywhere near accurate it could indicate that customers don’t have much interest in signing up for yet another data contract — especially one tied to a device that is anything but a commodity at this point. [BGR]

RUMOR: CLIQ 2 AND DELL STREAK 7 TO LAUNCH JANUARY 9TH ON T-MOBILE

According to an unconfirmed report, T-Mobile will launch two new Android-powered devices in mid-January. Enthusiast blog TmoNews claims that a source has pegged January 19th as the tentative release date for both the Motorola CLIQ 2 and the Dell Streak 7. The CLIQ 2 was last rumored to feature Motorola’s MOTOBLUR UI atop Android 2.2, as well as a unique QWERTY keypad that has no gaps between the keys. The Dell Streak 7 will reportedly be a 7-inch tablet with dual-cameras and version 2.2 of the Android OS. Neither device has been confirmed to be launching next month by T-Mobile or its respective manufacturer, though both are expected to be announced next week at the Consumer Electronics Show. [BGR]