Deutsche Telekom says it is in talks to merge its T-Mobile USA unit with regional carrier MetroPCS (PCS). MetroPCS, based near Dallas, has about 9.3 million subscribers nationwide, so the deal would increase T-Mobile USA’s subscriber base by about 28%. It would also give the nation’s fourth-largest carrier an LTE network.
T-Mobile USA has not yet begun to roll out LTE, but last week the company announced a deal to raise $2.4 billion for network upgrades and debt retirement by leasing towers to Crown Castle. The company is also sitting on $3 billion in cash that it won as a breakup fee after the Justice Department denied its attempt to merge with AT&T. The current market value of MetroPCS is just under $5 billion; the company’s sharesotherwise difficult second quarter, T-Mobile USA added a quarter of a million prepaid customers, and said that it now has 5.3 million no-contract customers.
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