After several years of speculation as to what would happen to T-Mobile after the failed AT&T merger in 2011, today news emerged that satellite television company Dish Network is in talks with T-Mobile to acquire the wireless provider, majority share of which is owned by Deutsche Telekom. Given T-Mobile’s market value of approximately $31 billion, if the merger is finalized it would mark yet another multi-billion dollar transaction between media and telecommunication giants, following on the heels of the nearly $49 billion purchase of DirecTV by AT&T.
Dish Network previously made bids for wireless carriers Sprint and Clearwire, which ultimately proved unsuccessful, however, such demonstrations by Dish of their desire to enter into the wireless industry give strength to the likelihood of the deal between Dish and T-Mobile coming to fruition.
With T-Mobile’s surge in subscribers over the last few years, and their need for network capacity upgrades, the lucrative wireless spectrum holdings by Dish could make this deal all the more attractive for both sides to see through.
