Hasta La Gadget!

It looks like Deutsche Telekom has revised its merger offer for MetroPCS to make it more appealing. There’s only 2 days left before MetroPCS’s shareholders decide whether or not the prepaid wireless carrier will be joining forces with T-Mobile USA. According to The Wall Street Journal, Deutsche Telekom approved a much better bid in order to convince MetroPCS shareholders to vote in favor of the merger.

The improved offer will reduce the amount of debt MetroPCS will be responsible for when the merger completes. It will also reduce the debt’s interest rate. Debt is one of the major factors holding back many of MetroPCS’s biggest shareholders from approving the deal. While Deutsche Telekom seems to have addressed that, there are several other factors that it needs to consider, including MetroPCS’s share in the merged companies, as well as the price of its shares.

When the deal goes through, MetroPCS will own only 26% of the merged company, and its shares will only be worth $4 each. Many proxy advisers, including Institutional Shareholder Services, an adviser to many major shareholders, has recommended that MetroPCS investors vote against the merger. The adviser, as well as many shareholders, have stated that MetroPCS has a chance of surviving on its own without T-Mobile’s help.

While Deutsche Telekom’s deal is a big improvement over its previous offer, it’s still uncertain whether or not shareholders will bite. Sources have told The Wall Street Journal that the meeting on April 12th could be pushed to a later date in order to give shareholders more time to consider the revised offer. Before news of the improved merger offer, the chances of a merger happening were looking pretty grim. T-Mobile USA needs MetroPCS in order to compete against the other major carriers, and in order to build out its LTE network. We’ll keep you updated on what happens at the merger meeting this Friday.

[via Wall Street Journal]

Deutsche Telekom approves improved merger offer for MetroPCS is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It looks as though those reports of T-Mobile possibly laying off over 100 people once it merges with MetroPCS is one step closer to become true as not only did the Department of Justice give the A-OK for the merger to occur, but today, the FCC also gave their blessing for the merger.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski released a statement in regards to the merger saying is “in the public interest” as it will strengthen the US wireless market by “moving toward robust competition and revitalized competitors.” (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Yellow/Gold iPhone 5S In The Works?, Samsung Galaxy S3 Refresh Coming (Rumor),

Earlier this morning, the US Department of Justice gave the T-Mobile / MetroPCS merger  its official green light in the form of a 30-day waiting period, which expires is there are no objections made within those 30 days. But it looks as though T-Mobile is a little too eager to get the merger ball rolling as it seems the company may already be performing a significant round of layoffs within its Bellevue headquarters.

The reports are coming from people inside of the company and may affect over 100 people within T-Mobile’s marketing division as well as other groups within the company. These layoffs are expected to happen sometime today as conference rooms have been designated for “integration” meetings.

As of now, no official word has come from T-Mobile in regards to these reports, but considering T-Mobile has been steadily losing customers, which the claim its recent drop in customers is due to the iPhone 5, we wouldn’t doubt something big is about to go down at T-Mobile if its merger with MetroPCS happens.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Samsung To Introduce Low-End Galaxy Pocket Neo Smartphone, iPhone 5S Production Rumored To Be Ramping Up At Foxconn,

Back in October, it was announced that T-Mobile would be acquiring regional carrier MetroPCS, but the deal isn’t final just yet. It obviously has to pass through several government barriers before it can officially happen. However, there’s one less hurdle to jump now, as the Department of Justice has given the merger the green light.

Now that the Department of Justice is out of the way, the acquisition deal now needs to make its way through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Committee on Foreign Investment, and MetroPCS shareholders, who are scheduled to vote on the merger on April 12, as previously reported a couple days ago.

MetroPCS is obviously encouraging shareholders to vote yes, and they say that voting for the merger has the same effect as voting against it. T-Mobile says that if shareholders vote against the merger, “there is no assurance that MetroPCS will be able to deliver the same or better stockholder value.”

Executive boards at both carriers have already approved the merger, and T-Mobile aims to migrate all MetroPCS customers over to T-Mobile’s system by 2015. T-Mobile is the US’s 4th-largest carrier, with MetroPCS being the 5th largest. While the merger may not put T-Mobile in third place, it certainly give the carrier quite a boost that it’s been wanting.

[via eWeek]

T-Mobile, MetroPCS merger gets approval from Department of Justice is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It appears that Dish wasn’t the only one who wants the FCC to put the brakes on Softbank’s merger with Sprint. Bloomberg reports that the US Justice Department has just requested that the FCC delay the deal as well. No word on why governmental lawyers are making the request, but we’ll update this post as soon as more information is available.

Update: While the DOJ has recommended that the FCC delay its approval of the deal due to national security concerns, it turns out that Dish has decided not to stand against the merger, after all. So, Sprint and Softbank have exchanged a private sector problem for a governmental one. The DOJ’s scrutiny certainly provides a significant hurdle for the deal to clear, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the two telcos can never be together. We’ll have to wait and see whether Uncle Sam gives the merger its final stamp of approval.

Update 2: Sprint has issued a statement on the matter: ‘This is a routine request when working with the CFIUS agencies regarding national security.” So, it seems that the folks in Overland Park aren’t overly concerned with the DOJ’s snooping.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Sprint

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Via: The Verge, Bloomberg (Twitter), Bloomberg

Source: FCC