Leap Wireless in talks with AT&T to buy T-Mobile Customers

I bet that title makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside doesn’t it? For those of us on T-Mobile, the AT&T buy out or merger has been one heck of a roller coaster. The most recent news was AT&T had pulled its filing to buy T-mobile. Things were looking good for us, but still pretty bad for Deutsche Telecom. As much as we may love our carrier, it is not always very profitable for the owners. Sadly, it is all about how much money they can make not about what the people want.

According to the New York Times, AT&T hasn’t given up yet. Not that it should surprise anyone. They received information from an unnamed source stating that AT&T is “knee-deep in negotiations” to sell a good chunk of T-Mobile’s customer accounts and some of their spectrum to Leap Wireless. Meaning that you, the customer, don’t really mean much to AT&T, all they really want is T-Mobile’s spectrum.

This new plan is aimed to alleviate some of the concerns that regulators have been having about the merger. Stats wise, AT&T has about a 70% chance of this being accepted, so say AT&T lawyers. This would be huge for Leap Wireless, if this does go through it would move the carrier from regional to national and take over T-Mobiles #4 spot in the list.

I have a sneaking suspicion that if this deal goes through, Leap Wireless will only be hurting them selves. I am certain that a huge chunk of customers that they end up with will walk and head straight Verizon or Sprint. Which in turn would hurt AT&T and give the other guys a more substantial lead in the numbers.

Source: New York Times