Deutsche Telekom, parent company of T-Mobile USA, can"t be too upset about the failed merger with AT&T. We"ve known since the announcement of the merger earlier this year that there would be a big penalty in cash and spectrum for AT&T if it didn"t go through, but today T-Mobile announced exactly what that spectrum would be.
While they won"t be receiving the $39 billion from AT&T that they were planning on, they will be getting one of the largest termination payouts in history in the form of $3 billion in cash, a large chunk of AT&T"s AWS spectrum, and a long term UMTS roaming agreement between the two networks.
Cash aside, the spectrum and roaming agreements are huge for T-Mobile, and make them even more valuable to a future buyer, such as Sprint. T-Mobile USA will receive a large package of AWS mobile spectrum in 128 markets, including Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Washington, Boston, San Francisco, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Baltimore and Seattle. T-Mobile currently uses the AWS to provide mobile data to their customers, although that is choice that has limited the availability of some smartphones on their network, such as the iPhone. The UMTS roaming agreement is good for seven years, and according to T-Mobile will allow its coverage area to expand from 230 million to 280 million Americans.
The cash however, will go straight into paying off debt.
It is expected that DT will continue to seek someone to take T-Mobile off their hands in the USA. In a strange way, the failure of the AT&T deal may have actually made it easier to attract future suitors.