6:07 pm October 2, 2012, by Christopher Seward

(Associated Press)
Update 10:40 a.m.: As expected, T-Mobile USA’s parent announced plans Wednesday to acquire MetroPCS.
Both companies are struggling and see a combined cellphone service provider as a way to increase their competitiveness against Verizon, AT&T and Sprint.
“The combined company, which will retain the T-Mobile name, will have the expanded scale, spectrum and financial resources to aggressively compete with the other national U.S. wireless carriers,” Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, which owns T-Mobile, and MetroPCS said in a statement.
T-Mobile is the fourth-largest provider in the U.S. MetroPCS is No. 5. The combined company, which will have around 40 million subscribers, will still make it only No. 4. behind Sprint.
Because both have different network technologies, the phones they provide to subscribers would not be able to be used on each other’s networks. Both, however, are developing 4G networks, so that could change in the future. The deal will give T-Mobile access to more space on the airwaves as it tries to expand capacity for wireless broadband.
Will the new T-Mobile boost its competitiveness?
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20 comments Add your comment
Ivana Humpalot
October 2nd, 2012
7:28 pm
Yeah, and 0bama Supporters in H E L L want ice water.
RichieRich
October 2nd, 2012
7:42 pm
T-mobile customer service went down the crapper a couple of years ago. I dumped them after 10+ years. Whatever customer service Metro PCS has is surely going to follow……
K-Ster
October 2nd, 2012
7:43 pm
Yeah, and Romney will get back to you once he speaks with those who tell him what to think and say.
(Eff you, Ivana, and your political crap)
david
October 2nd, 2012
8:14 pm
metro pcs– dont do it,you will lose a lot of customers.just last week,i signed up for 2 grandchildrens.
Kennesaw Dave
October 2nd, 2012
8:15 pm
I hope this doesn’t happen. I’m with Metro right now and the whole reason I chose them was so I wouldn’t have to do a 2 year contract like the others require. If they merge, I’ll just go to Straight Talk. Don’t really want to do that but it’ll be what it’ll be.
Ole reb
October 2nd, 2012
8:46 pm
Hol-E Kawasaki I love Carly Foulkes aka the T Mobile Girl!!!
Passerby
October 2nd, 2012
9:22 pm
It’s like a cow marrying a donkey.
karla
October 2nd, 2012
9:22 pm
Metro PCS I’m out of here. I don’t want a contract.
drpelib
October 2nd, 2012
9:47 pm
First of all metro PCs is garbage. Overpriced crappy phones.horrible service. And T-Mobile offers the same of NO CONTRACT plan for 50 a month.
jj
October 2nd, 2012
10:05 pm
I changed from Verizon to T-Mobile because Verizon just got too expensive for an indivdual to have and have been quite pleased with my month to month T-Mobile $50 plan
jj
October 2nd, 2012
10:12 pm
Natural Gas service, water filters, vitamins, now a cell phone MLM (pyramid) – there is a sucker born every minute
some dude
October 2nd, 2012
10:17 pm
If Metro has the IPhone, then that is probably what they are after. That is what is driving many of their customers away. They have something going now where they buy old phones out of contract once they are unlocked and provision these for their network. But real die hard Apple heads will not settle for that. Quite frankly without the IPhone they are toast. FWIW I do not own an IPhone, prefer the Samsung but that is the reality of the market.
J
October 2nd, 2012
10:38 pm
I think this is all for 4g LTE network , so they can compete.
Bill Ficke
October 3rd, 2012
11:14 am
Last year I switched from Team Mobile to Metro PCS so that my wife could have unlimited international calls for $10 a month. The international service was great. The domestic service really sucked! My smart phone never found 4G or even 3G most of the time. I’m back with Team Mobile and the service is really good in the Atlanta metro area. I really don’t see what advantage Team Mobile gets by buying this crappy service!
David from Sugar Hill
October 3rd, 2012
4:30 pm
I left Tmobile after 10 years due to deceptive Tmobile practices. I went to MetroPCS to get away from hidden fees,and poor treatment.
I then found out Tmobile has a harassing collections department. I have had my attorney explain to concurrent collection companies the legal issue of pursuing their fraudlent fees but they will not relent
Any one know of another METro type compay how is boost?
Tee
October 4th, 2012
12:29 am
All cellular service provides are crap. Either they cost to much, or they have crappy coverage, or they have horrible phones! there’s just no winning! All overrated
who stands for what
October 4th, 2012
7:32 am
I have the Tmobile Pre pay $50.00 a month. Verizon is just too expensive. Service is much better and so is the coverage but for I changed for the price. Rarely have dropped calls.
$120.00 plus or $50.00 a month.
Richard 'Dick' Weiner
October 4th, 2012
5:25 pm
t-mobile only sucks a little ore than sprint but costs a lot less
you an use your unlocked iphone on t-mobile
t-mobile will unlock their no contract phones after 3 months
i get 4g at work where my sprint phone got 0g
a was with sprint for 10 years w/o a contract and they would not match t-mobile price
Blowflappy McFarthole
October 5th, 2012
4:07 am
T-Mobile and Metro PCS both suck!
No wonder the both are doing poorly!
icons archive
October 8th, 2012
6:02 am
Thanks, has left to read.