Joe Mark / Android Authority
tl; drag
- The DOJ and the FCC have both approved the acquisition of $ 4.4 billion from most US cellular on T -Mobile, in which no major conditions or security measures have been imposed.
- T -Mobile will receive US cellular users, stores and spectrums, while the US cellular will maintain their towers and focus on leasing them.
- Critics fear that integration can reduce competition, especially in rural areas, but do not see at least immediate changes to US cellular consumers.
Last year, T Mobile announced most of the US cellular acquisition plans in a $ 4.4 billion deal. As is common with mass integration, the agreement requires the approval of both the DOJ and the FCC. At that time, it was unclear whether such a proposal would actually be approved by any organization. After the elections, the problems with the new administration became immense. Only ahead of this day – just last week, the DOJ signed the offer, and surprisingly, the FCC has now followed it (Via through Via Acute wireless).
The FCC approved the transaction without a vote of the full commission (consisting of two Republicans and a Democrat). Although these types of offerings often come with privileges – such as new unlock policies or other limits – this particular approval did not contain any additional terms and passed without any real opposition from the FCC.
As part of the deal, T Mobile will pay $ 2.4 billion in cash and the US will assume $ 2 billion in cellular debt. It will also get up to 4 million users, all US cellular stores, and its spectrum holdings in 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 2.5 GHz, AWS, and PCs. Verizon and AT&T will also be buying part of the US cellular spectrum. However, the US cellular will still maintain 4,400 towers and, instead of offering direct customer service, will focus on leasing these towers to other companies.
As you can imagine, not everyone is very excited about the approval of this agreement. Especially the RWA (Rural Wireless Association) is concerned that there are no conditions around the roaming.
For those who do not know, American cellular can be a regional carrier, but in some parts of the United States, it is literally the only choice. For example, my family is in Sydney, Iowa, and without roaming contracts, I will have no coverage with a large three. Thankfully, US cellular has extensive roaming agreements that are beneficial for both large careers and small rural providers. Although these contracts may remain under T -Mobile’s responsibility, nothing has been written in the stone to guarantee it.
“The FCC’s decision is without demand for accountability after taking account of T -mobile’s promises as a gospel,” said RWA’s external general councilor Kerry Bennett. “Failure to implement the FCC staff’s meaningful security measures is a decision to compete and to protect consumers and protect the public interest.”
What happens next, and is this integration a good or bad thing?
I will be honest, I am quite worried about the integration that lives in any rural areas itself. Although this will not affect me personally, I have decent coverage from numerous networks, but not everywhere. Less competition is never a good thing. T -Mobile promised big things with Sprint, and while this acquisition certainly helped improve the T -Mobile network, we have also seen a steady increase in career prices and other steps that suggest that fewer players will always mean more prices and less flexibility for consumers.
Do you agree with the FCC approval of the US Cellular Agreement?
9 votes
Yes, why not?
22 %
Yes, but the restrictions should have been imposed
22 %
No, it will not be fine for the industry
56 %
Other (tell us in the comments)
0 %
As far as what happens? T -Mobile and US cellular will have to arrange to shut down transactions. The exact timeframe may be different, with months or longer for weeks. Once completed, the American cellular will not disappear as an option. T -Mobile had earlier made it clear that US cellular consumers would not see any change immediately and they would be able to continue their plans as usual.
It is similar that Spirits initially worked completely in T -Mobile before, but before considering the identity of the American Cellular brand in some rural areas, it is completely possible that the carrier could survive as a value brand of value. However, these are just speculations from me.
In fact, the only thing I can say is that American cellular consumers will probably not see any significant changes by the end of this year. Beyond that, we can only see how it opens.
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