I saw somebody created a thread about the MetroPCS and T-Mobile merger based on them getting the Galaxy S3 and wanting to know how it will affect their service and LTE/CDMA network.. I decided to give a more long winded explanation as it seems the media has failed to truthfully explain this merger. For those curious about what the heck is going on with this "T-Metro" merger this posting is for you.
First I will make a few things clear. This is called a "reverse merger" T-Mobile is actually being bought out by MetroPCS, the difference is that so far Metro has decided that when the dust settles they will keep the T-Mobile name although that is subject to change.
As it stands metropcs share holders are attempting to sue as they feel this Merger is a rip off, I am not going to get into any details relating to that however.
So starting off, i always explain it like this, do you guys remember Cingular Wireless? They had acquired AT&T years ago but some years later AT&T literally took over that company. These are the affects of reverse mergers, smaller companies allow bigger companies to "buy them" and then allow the bigger company to swallow in more customers while the smaller company grows in the background with bigger companies finances and then once the remaining shareholders walk out the door or the shareholders for the smaller half have enough money they gobble up the stock on the other once bigger half and become one whole entity. Now AT&T was a huge company even before the Cingular merger but AT&T did not have much market share in the wireless industry to justify a place for them so they let Cingular do all the foot work while they watched in the shadows. once Cingular grew to a point AT&T basically said "good job we'll take over from here". now there is more to this than I am explaining but i just want to give you guys that example.
T-Mobile: the German parent company was in talks to merge with Sprint and then later AT&T. This an attempt for the parent company to drop T-Mobile from they're shoulders. T-Mobile has been basically trying to "sell itself". MetroPCS is a smaller company that does not have the funds to buyout a company as big as T-Mobile so a reverse merger was the only solution.
MetroPCS and it's customers: it works like this, lets say you have an LTE capable phone with MetroPCS and your friend has one of metro's CDMA-only phones I think metro calls them "feature phones"?? Anywho, this is how the merger will affect you and that basic phone touting friend. Next year 2013, the merger kicks off full throttle with T-Mobile running the show, Metro customers who want to Upgrade will be steered towards a GSM/HSPA+ phone, your friend with that CDMA device can either join the bandwagon, or keep his current phone. in the background, MetroPCS will continue rolling out more LTE towers mixed with T-Mobile's LTE blueprint plans and T-Mobile's finances, so you and your LTE device will be just fine. The merger will continue in this fashion with T-Mobile slowly converting CDMA metro users to GSM/HSPA+ until 2015 comes around.
So it's 2015...what's next? : T-Mobile will deactivate all MetroPCS CDMA towers for good. This means if your CDMA friend didn't jump ship already he/she will be out of luck once T-Mobile flips that switch. But what about you and your LTE? Well while T-Mobile did all the stress work in the front end, MetroPCS did all the foot work in the back end, there are LTE towers in more places providing more coverage than metro gave you before all over shadowing T-Mobile's wireless foot print.
Pros/Cons and Concerns: you will then get great LTE coverage and T-Metro will nab better spectrum density that can compete with Verizon Wireless' LTE and the prices will be competitive and speeds will be aggressive at the heels of the bigger companies Verizon & AT&T. Using a MetroPCS pre-merger LTE device will provide compatibility with the after merger T-Metro LTE network but for arguments sake, if you should hit an area with no LTE coverage using that device your device will attempt to roam on another CDMA network. Now lets say no roaming agreements are in place for that area and Metro's legacy CDMA towers are not active due to T-Mobile deactivating them. Well, your phone just won't work until it hits an LTE coverage area again.
"But T-Mobile has a 74% stake in this merger to Metro's 26% clearly T-Mobile owns metro": this is my favorite response I get from people because its obvious they missed the most crucial detail of whatever they read. I explain it like this, T-Mobile's parent company owns 74% and MetroPCS owns 26% however T-Mobile itself, owns NOTHING. Watch out for what most articles make it seem like. Also, keep in mind T-Mobile gave Metro shareholders $1.5 billion on top of the 26% stake in the merger. Explaining the 74% is even more simple, once the merger is completed in 2015 T-Metro will be worth even more than it was going into the merger, the German parent company knows this, so they invested the most. If you had a 74% stake in a company and that company blew up into something even better and was worth more money than you could ever imagine and you decided to sell your 74% stake... well just imagine how much money you'd get out of that worth. That's why some metro shareholders are upset with the merger deal, money.
Closing statement: in case your wondering, I say "German parent company" because of my lack of remembering how to spell the real name correctly, too impatient to check from a mobile device lol. I honestly would like this merger to go through because I think these 2 companies are a good match, Sprint owns Clear wire, Boost, Virgin Mobile, Voice stream and some other companies and honestly they have done very little with them. They also keep jumping from WiMax to LTE which just confuses customers, to me I don't find them to be a stable company. And after that crazy Nextel merger... I just stay away from them.
Questions or comments? Please share. Otherwise I hope this was helpful enough to understand. If anyone would like to add to this please do.
First I will make a few things clear. This is called a "reverse merger" T-Mobile is actually being bought out by MetroPCS, the difference is that so far Metro has decided that when the dust settles they will keep the T-Mobile name although that is subject to change.
As it stands metropcs share holders are attempting to sue as they feel this Merger is a rip off, I am not going to get into any details relating to that however.
So starting off, i always explain it like this, do you guys remember Cingular Wireless? They had acquired AT&T years ago but some years later AT&T literally took over that company. These are the affects of reverse mergers, smaller companies allow bigger companies to "buy them" and then allow the bigger company to swallow in more customers while the smaller company grows in the background with bigger companies finances and then once the remaining shareholders walk out the door or the shareholders for the smaller half have enough money they gobble up the stock on the other once bigger half and become one whole entity. Now AT&T was a huge company even before the Cingular merger but AT&T did not have much market share in the wireless industry to justify a place for them so they let Cingular do all the foot work while they watched in the shadows. once Cingular grew to a point AT&T basically said "good job we'll take over from here". now there is more to this than I am explaining but i just want to give you guys that example.
T-Mobile: the German parent company was in talks to merge with Sprint and then later AT&T. This an attempt for the parent company to drop T-Mobile from they're shoulders. T-Mobile has been basically trying to "sell itself". MetroPCS is a smaller company that does not have the funds to buyout a company as big as T-Mobile so a reverse merger was the only solution.
MetroPCS and it's customers: it works like this, lets say you have an LTE capable phone with MetroPCS and your friend has one of metro's CDMA-only phones I think metro calls them "feature phones"?? Anywho, this is how the merger will affect you and that basic phone touting friend. Next year 2013, the merger kicks off full throttle with T-Mobile running the show, Metro customers who want to Upgrade will be steered towards a GSM/HSPA+ phone, your friend with that CDMA device can either join the bandwagon, or keep his current phone. in the background, MetroPCS will continue rolling out more LTE towers mixed with T-Mobile's LTE blueprint plans and T-Mobile's finances, so you and your LTE device will be just fine. The merger will continue in this fashion with T-Mobile slowly converting CDMA metro users to GSM/HSPA+ until 2015 comes around.
So it's 2015...what's next? : T-Mobile will deactivate all MetroPCS CDMA towers for good. This means if your CDMA friend didn't jump ship already he/she will be out of luck once T-Mobile flips that switch. But what about you and your LTE? Well while T-Mobile did all the stress work in the front end, MetroPCS did all the foot work in the back end, there are LTE towers in more places providing more coverage than metro gave you before all over shadowing T-Mobile's wireless foot print.
Pros/Cons and Concerns: you will then get great LTE coverage and T-Metro will nab better spectrum density that can compete with Verizon Wireless' LTE and the prices will be competitive and speeds will be aggressive at the heels of the bigger companies Verizon & AT&T. Using a MetroPCS pre-merger LTE device will provide compatibility with the after merger T-Metro LTE network but for arguments sake, if you should hit an area with no LTE coverage using that device your device will attempt to roam on another CDMA network. Now lets say no roaming agreements are in place for that area and Metro's legacy CDMA towers are not active due to T-Mobile deactivating them. Well, your phone just won't work until it hits an LTE coverage area again.
"But T-Mobile has a 74% stake in this merger to Metro's 26% clearly T-Mobile owns metro": this is my favorite response I get from people because its obvious they missed the most crucial detail of whatever they read. I explain it like this, T-Mobile's parent company owns 74% and MetroPCS owns 26% however T-Mobile itself, owns NOTHING. Watch out for what most articles make it seem like. Also, keep in mind T-Mobile gave Metro shareholders $1.5 billion on top of the 26% stake in the merger. Explaining the 74% is even more simple, once the merger is completed in 2015 T-Metro will be worth even more than it was going into the merger, the German parent company knows this, so they invested the most. If you had a 74% stake in a company and that company blew up into something even better and was worth more money than you could ever imagine and you decided to sell your 74% stake... well just imagine how much money you'd get out of that worth. That's why some metro shareholders are upset with the merger deal, money.
Closing statement: in case your wondering, I say "German parent company" because of my lack of remembering how to spell the real name correctly, too impatient to check from a mobile device lol. I honestly would like this merger to go through because I think these 2 companies are a good match, Sprint owns Clear wire, Boost, Virgin Mobile, Voice stream and some other companies and honestly they have done very little with them. They also keep jumping from WiMax to LTE which just confuses customers, to me I don't find them to be a stable company. And after that crazy Nextel merger... I just stay away from them.
Questions or comments? Please share. Otherwise I hope this was helpful enough to understand. If anyone would like to add to this please do.