Hasta La Gadget!

The European Commission has decided it doesn’t mind the crass splicing of pink (okay, magenta) and orange, and has therefore provided its tastefully hued green light to the UK merger of the two mobile operators. Once the transaction is completed this Spring, we’ll still be looking at two delineated entities on the consumer market, but there’ll be one back office and one consolidated network servicing the two brands. That’ll remain the case for at least the next 18 months, when the joint venture between Deutsche Telecom and France Telecom, the respective parent companies of T-Mobile and Orange, will likely complete the process by rebranding itself into one entity. The press announcement is littered with vague references to synergy leveraging and value generation, but those all-important questions as to what the new operator will eventually be called and what colors it will sport are left unanswered. All that really matters for now is that the UK has a new market share leader and the mobile space became that little bit less competitive.

[Thanks, Mitchel]

Orange and T-Mobile UK merger approved by EU, forms 29.5 million customer juggernaut originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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All of the players roped into the FCC’s early termination fee inquiry — T-Mobile, Sprint, AT&T, Verizon, and Google — have met the Fed’s February 23 deadline for responding, and needless to say, you could destroy a small forest with the amount of paperwork that’s been sent back to Washington. The majority of the inquiry focused on carriers’ ETF pricing structure and whether there are different ETFs involved based on the device a customer chooses, and the subtleties in the differences between answers from different carriers are pretty fascinating.

T-Mobile seems resolute that a single $200 ETF is the way to go and emphasizes that its customers can avoid the fee altogether by going with an Even More Plus plan, while Sprint says that it “continue[s] to evaluate the market” with regard to a multiple ETF setup. Google, meanwhile, is quick to note that it’s just dropped its $350 Equipment Recovery Fee down to $150, though that amount still effectively represents the only device in T-Mobile’s subsidized lineup that commands a grand total ETF greater than $200 upon cancellation — but it gets even better later on when they get snippy for being lumped in with carriers on the inquiry and remind the FCC that the ERF reduction had been in the planning stages prior to the inquiry being issued. At any rate, they note that the ERF isn’t intended as a revenue stream — rather, it’s a way to recoup the losses Google incurs when T-Mobile asks for its commission back if a customer cancels within 120 days (as you might imagine, T-Mobile conveniently fails to mention this point in its own reply).

Verizon — which effectively triggered this whole mess by introducing its two-tier ETF — basically echoes much of what it said in its last response, a surprising move considering the Commission’s general displeasure with it, so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of reaction it garners this time around. AT&T takes perhaps the most pragmatic approach through most of its response, answering the FCC’s questions very matter-of-factly, but goes into a great deal of depth rationalizing early termination fees at the tail end and takes the opportunity to remind everyone that they’ve offered both commitment-free month-to-month and prepaid service for many years.

Something tells us this isn’t the last we’ve heard on the subject, but for the time being, check out everyone’s responses in the galleries below (more after the break).

[Thanks, Dan P.]

Continue reading Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Google all respond to FCC’s ETF inquiry

Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Google all respond to FCC’s ETF inquiry originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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During Deutsche Telekom’s press conference this morning at MWC, Cole Brodman — T-Mobile USA’s CTO — went on record with the news that it’ll be launching its first 21Mbps HSPA+ USB modem next month across the country, the webConnect Rocket. Of course, there isn’t a lot of live 21Mbps footprint in T-Mobile’s network right now — in fact, only Philly is fully operational — but there should be plenty more cities from coast to coast where you can enjoy DSL-shaming wireless speeds later this year. That might not be the most exciting news, though: Brodman also finally fessed up to the HD2 (unbranded version pictured above), which will be exclusive to T-Mobile in the US. It’s arguably pretty bad timing in light of the Windows Phone 7 Series announcement yesterday, but a huge win nonetheless — the phone is a legitimate beast. Like the webConnect Rocket, it’ll be hitting in March, though exact dates and prices for either have yet to be revealed.

Update: T-Mobile had previously hinted that there’s be some surprised in store for the US release of the HD2, and indeed, there are; it’s got Blockbuster On Demand integrated for downloading movies directly to the device, a Barnes & Noble eReader app for enjoying the Nook’s digital library right on the phone, and — for some reason we don’t fully appreciate — Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen bundled on the included microSD. Full PR after the break — and reader Qasim points out that T-Mobile’s HD2 website is now live as well.

Continue reading T-Mobile launching 21Mbps webConnect Rocket, HTC HD2 next month

T-Mobile launching 21Mbps webConnect Rocket, HTC HD2 next month originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 04:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola has just announced its eighth Android phone at MWC, dubbed the CLIQ XT or Quench outside the US (and previously known as the Zeppelin). Highlights include a 3.1-inch touchscreen with a mysterious “high-resolution” (last time we heard, it was 480 x 320), “pinch and zoom” touch capabilities, 5 megapixel camera (with autofocus and LED flash), a navigation touchpad and a dual-mic noise cancellation system. The rest of the features are pretty bog-standard: stereo Bluetooth, AGPS, FM radio, Motoblur and Adobe Flash Lite. Unlike the CLIQ there’s no physical keyboard here, but if that’s how you roll then look out for T-Mobile USA’s launch and pricing for this phone next month. The rest of us shall quench our thirst with something else for the time being.

Continue reading Motorola CLIQ XT / Quench joins the Android family at MWC

Motorola CLIQ XT / Quench joins the Android family at MWC originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 04:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not a week goes by that we don’t hear of investor pressure on Deutsche Telekom to strengthen its financials and offload underperforming units — T-Mobile USA included — and the American outpost is back in the spotlight this evening coming off a report out of The Wall Street Journal that a spinoff might indeed be in the works. According to our favorite “people familiar with the matter,” DT has reached out to a few banks with the goal of raising enough capital for T-Mobile through an IPO that it’d be able to continue to fund its network build-out, something that’s going to become increasingly critical as it fends off 7.2Mbps HSPA and 4G competition from all of its national competitors. There are a few scenarios allegedly being discussed, ranging from a full-on excision of T-Mobile from its corporate parent to a merger with another US wireless firm — but the plan gaining most traction internally is said to involve selling around 20 percent of the carrier to investors while hanging onto the rest, a situation that would get the underperforming unit’s financials off DT’s books. Ultimately, whatever comes of this probably won’t happen for a few months while the options get mulled, but considering what went down in the UK, this certainly seems plausible.

Deutsche Telekom rumored to be eyeing T-Mobile USA spinoff originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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