T-Mobile Buys Ryan Reynolds' Mint Mobile In a $1.35 Billion Deal

Mint Mobile, the wireless firm that counts Reynolds as a part owner, has been acquired by wireless giant T-Mobile in a deal that could value the startup firm at $1.35 billion. T-Mobile will pay the deal in 39 percent cash and 61 percent stock.

It is not immediately clear how much Reynolds will personally see from the deal, though he is said to own between 20-25 percent of Mint Mobile, implying a low nine-figure payday.

“Mint Mobile is the best deal in wireless and today’s news only enhances our ability to deliver for our customers,” Reynolds said in a statement Wednesday. “We are so happy T-Mobile beat out an aggressive last-minute bid from my mom Tammy Reynolds as we believe the excellence of their 5G network will provide a better strategic fit than my mom’s slightly-above-average mahjong skills. I am so proud of the entire Mint team and so excited for what’s to come.”

In addition to Mint, T-Mobile is also acquiring Ultra Mobile, which is geared toward providing international calling options to customers, as well as Plum, a wireless wholesaler. All three companies were owned by Ka’ena Corp, and founders David Glickman and Rizwan Kassim will run the company as its own business unit.

Under the terms of the deal, Reynolds will continue to work in his creative role for Mint. The actor has long appeared in commercials for the wireless brand, featuring his distinctive sense of humor.

In a statement, T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said that he hopes to bring that formula to the larger company.

“Over the long-term, we’ll also benefit from applying the marketing formula Mint has become famous for across more parts of T-Mobile,” he said. “We think customers are really going to win with a more competitive and expansive Mint and Ultra.”

Reynolds is no stranger to the business world outside of acting. In 2020 he sold his Aviation Gin brand to Diageo in a deal worth $600 million.

Source: T-Mobile

Dish Has Agreed To Buy Boost Mobile

Dish has reportedly struck a deal with T-Mobile, to divest some of its spectrum and Boost Mobile to the satellite provider Dish, in order for the Justice Department to approve of its merger with Sprint.

The Justice Department needs to sign off on this deal, before it can be approved and before the merger with Sprint can be approved. This report comes out of CNBC, who has a pretty good track record with telecommunications reports. 

The Justice Department still needs to decide on whether Dish would represent meaningful competition to T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T following the $26 billion merger between T-Mobile and Sprint.

Dish already has spectrum from different spectrum auctions over the past decade. If there is a company that could become a meaningful competitor to the existing wireless carriers, Dish would be the one in mind. T-Mobile and Sprint have already agreed to sell Boost Mobile to get this deal done, and the DOJ also wants it to sell some of its own spectrum.

T-Mobile wants to limit Dish's spectrum capacity to around 12.5 percent. Meanwhile, Deutsche Telekom wants to limit any strategic Dish investor to 5 percent.

This to make sure that T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom aren't spending $26 billion to be left in the same spot they are in now. In distant third place behind the top two US carriers. The whole reason for the two to merge was to be able to better compete with top carriers, both of which are nearly three times the size of T-Mobile now. The combined T-Mobile and Sprint, would still be smaller than the top US carriers.

The Justice Department has a few things that it wants done before it can approve this merger between T-Mobile and Sprint. One major caveat is to make a fourth, viable, wireless carrier. Which would be the point of selling spectrum to Dish as well as selling Boost Mobile. 

Dish being the perfect buyer, giving it has spectrum that it needs to start deploying, before the FCC starts fining Dish and has been wanting to get into the wireless industry for many years.


Source: CNBC

T-Mobile And Sprint To Sell Off Boost Mobile

T-Mobile and Sprint are closer to merger approval, working with the Department of Justice to divest assets that would create a new fourth wireless carrier. The New York Times says the carriers are in discussions with Dish Network, Charter, and Altice to acquire Boost Mobile and some of Sprint's wireless spectrum.

The critical part of the structuring deal is that Sprint would be giving up spectrum holdings, not just the Boost Mobile brand that runs on Sprint's existing network. In order for a new carrier to be a true competitor it would need its own spectrum holdings. If the merger were to be structured with this sort of deal in place it would presumably ease pressure coming from lawsuits that's aiming to block the merger on the basis that it would reduce competition.

The question is why are we going through all of these hurdles to end up with four U.S. carriers once all is said and done. The combined T-Mobile and Sprint would have a large enough customer base and network infrastructure to compete with other major U.S. carriers. But the new smaller carrier would be starting from a disadvantaged position.


Source: The New York Times

T-Mobile And Sprint Agree To Merge, Valued At $26 Billion

T-Mobile and Sprint today announced plans to merge in an all stock deal that will create a "New T-Mobile" worth $146 billion. The new company's combined radio spectrum assets will allow it to accelerate deployment of 5G technology. 

The new T-Mobile plans to spend up to $40 billion on its new combined network in the first three years, 46% more than T-Mobile and Sprint spent combined in the past three years. The new company will assume both the T-Mobile brand and most of the T-Mobile leadership. 

John Legere current President and CEO of T-Mobile US will serve as CEO of the new company and Mike Sievert current COO of T-Mobile will serve as President and COO. 

Tim Höttges, current T-Mobile Chairman of the Board will serve as Chairman of the Board for the new company. 

Current Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure will serve on the board. Following closing the company will be headquartered in Bellevue, Wash. with a second headquarters in Overland Park, Kan. The combined company will have lower costs and greater economies of scale expected to result in run rate cost synergies of $6+ billion. 

The transaction is expected to close no later than the first half of 2019, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.


Source: T-Mobile, Sprint

Google’s Project Fi Now Offers Unlimited Mobile Data

Google's Project Fi service, a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) service using Wi-Fi and the cellular networks of T-Mobile, Sprint, U.S. Cellular, and Three.

The pricing model has been fairly straightforward until now, $20 per month for unlimited calls and texts, plus $10 for every gigabyte (GB) of data used. 

Simple right? Well today Google's Project Fi announced a new feature called “bill protection” a feature that effectively brings unlimited data to Project Fi subscribers with a $60 cap in place.

Before bill protection users would pay $20 for 2GB, $45 for 4.5GB, $50 for 5GB, and so on. With bill protection in place, users will pay the usual $10 per GB until 6GB after which they pay nothing extra up to 15GB. If they do hit the 15GB mark they will then begin to experience slower data speeds until their next bill cycle begins unless they opt out of the program and choose to continue paying $10 for every GB they use over 15GB.

Google's Project Fi currently works with a handful of Android devices including the Moto X4, Android One Moto X4, Google Pixel and Pixel XL, Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, Google Nexus 6P, and Google Nexus 5X. It’s only open to U.S. subscribers, though the plans work for U.S. travelers in more than 130 countries.


Source: Google Project Fi

T-Mobile Acquires Layer3 TV, Launching Its Own TV Service In 2018

Financial terms were not disclosed. Denver based Layer3 has raised about $80 million from investors including Evolution Media whose backers include CAA and Jeff Skoll’s Participant Media. The company has added Hollywood veterans including former Fox exec Lindsay Gardner and ex UTA social media agent Eric Kuhn to its exec roster as it has grown.

Details about the new TV service which will build on Layer3’s existing presence in select markets have not been disclosed. Execs declined to offer any guidance on pricing or strategy on the mix of content.



T-Mobile CEO John Legere said “This is about an integrated home and mobile experience.”

Sprint, T-Mobile Rumored To Be In Final Stages Of Merger Deal... Yet Again

SoftBank which controls 80% of Sprint is expressing optimism about the prospect for mergers in the U.S. wireless carrier industry under President Trump.

The Obama administration was "quite tough on business," SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son has been quoted saying. But now the "door is open" for potential deals he added.

Masayoshi Son failed in an attempt to merge Sprint with T-Mobile back in 2014 after the plan ran into regulatory hurdles. SoftBank paid $20.1 billion October 14th 2012 taking 70% control, on August 6th 2013 Softbank purchased another 2% raising their stakes to 80% ownership of Sprint and has struggled to turn the U.S. carrier around since.

Now, Masayoshi Son is ready to try again saying that while he is open to other options, T-Mobile remains his "first priority" for a merger with Sprint. T-Mobile CEO John Legere said earlier this year that the company was open to "various forms of consolidation."


Source: The Phone Ninja

Sprint, T-Mobile Rumored To Be Discussing Merger Details... Again

SoftBank which controls 80% of Sprint is expressing optimism about the prospect for mergers in the U.S. wireless carrier industry under President Trump.

The Obama administration was "quite tough on business," SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said Wednesday. But now the "door is open" for potential deals he added.

Masayoshi Son failed in an attempt to merge Sprint with T-Mobile back in 2014 after the plan ran into regulatory hurdles. SoftBank paid $20.1 billion October 14th 2012 taking 70% control, on August 6th 2013 Softbank purchased another 2% raising their stakes to 80% ownership of Sprint and has struggled to turn the U.S. carrier around since.

Now, Masayoshi Son is ready to try again saying that while he is open to other options, T-Mobile remains his "first priority" for a merger with Sprint. T-Mobile CEO John Legere said earlier this year that the company was open to "various forms of consolidation."


Source: CNN Money

Project Fi Now Supports Data Only Devices

Google announced that Project Fi subscribers can add a tablet or other data only device to their plan if they choose. Customers will need to order a data-only SIM card from Google through the Project Fi web site. 

Google charges $10 per 1GB of data, but only bills customers for what they actually use each month. The offer is available only to existing Project Fi subscribers. Tablets cannot be used as mobile hotspots. 

The initial batch of tablets compatible with the service include the Nexus 7 and Nexus 9, iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 4, and the Galaxy Tab S. Project Fi uses a mix of cellular service from Sprint and T-Mobile, and WiFi to provide coverage. Devices that run on Project Fi can dynamically switch to the strongest network to optimize performance.

Source: Project Fi Help Forum

Sprint Is Now Officially The Number Four Carrier In The US

T-Mobile CEO John Legere let some interesting information slip out during T-Mobile’s Uncannier announcement conference call via Periscope live stream. Last quarter, Legere said that T-Mobile gained 2.1 million net customers, bringing its total subscriber count to 58.9 million subscribers. Sprint currently has only around 57.1 million subscribers.

Legere predicted that T-Mobile would overtake Sprint by the end of 2014 and by most counts T-Mobile did. Sprint’s numbers have been inflated for a while now. It is said that Sprint counts pay as you go customers as active subscribers, even if they haven’t accessed the network in over 90 days. T-Mobile, and most of the rest of the industry stops counting inactive subscribers at the 90 day mark.

So T-Mobile has had more active users than Sprint for some time now, even though Sprint’s “official” numbers were higher.

Source: Wikipedia

MetroPCS Shuts Down Its Legacy CDMA Network

MetroPCS shutdown its legacy CDMA network as of June 21. MetroPCS parent T-Mobile says about 190,000 customers were still using CDMA handsets in the three markets that offer CDMA coverage, down from 300,000 about a month ago. 

T-Mobile has been transitioning CDMA customers to its GSM based network aggressively for more than a year. "Any MetroPCS customer using a CDMA handset in a migration market was eligible for our HSPA/LTE device Upgrade Program," said T-Mobile. "In order to take advantage of the new network, all customers need to do is bring their active phone to a participating MetroPCS store, choose a new phone, apply their trade-in credit toward that phone, and start using the new network right away." 

Some MetroPCS customers will quality for upgrade credits between $32 and $299 depending on their existing CDMA handset. Customers who didn't pick up a new phone before June 21 will lose service entirely when MetroPCS shuts down the CDMA network. T-Mobile plans to re-use the CDMA spectrum to supplement its LTE 4G network.

Iliad Bails On T-Mobile Acquisition Attempt

Iliad today said it will no longer pursue an acquisition of T-Mobile U.S. The company first proposed to acquire 56% of the company back in July, but T-Mobile's majority owner Deutsche Telekom rejected the bid. 

Iliad later put together more resources with the help of financiers and proposed to acquire 67% of the company for $36 per share. Iliad arrived at today's decision "following exchanges with Deutsche Telekom and selected board members of T-Mobile US who have refused to entertain its new offer." Deutsche Telekom has long sought to rid itself of T-Mobile, but has yet to successfully sell the company. Iliad believed acquiring T-Mobile would have helped the combined entities realize $2 billion in annual cost savings, as well as given Iliad a toehold in the U.S. market.

Dish Is Ready To Bid On T-Mobile

Dish Network Chairman Charles Ergen wants Dish to become a wireless carrier. Ergen was shot down twice when Dish was outbid by SoftBank for Sprint, and outbid by Sprint for Clearwire. Ergen also put in a bid for bankrupt third party network provider LightSquared only to see another party interfere yet again.

Earlier this year Dish finally won an auction for H-Block spectrum for $1.56 billion. Which made Dish the fifth largest holder of spectrum. Ergen has said he would let Sprint bid on T-Mobile. If Sprint's attempt to buy T-Mobile fails Dish will step in to buy the fourth largest U.S. carrier. Ergen says that Dish doesn't have cash flow to outbid Sprint for T-Mobile, Ergen would rather sit on the sidelines to see how a Sprint T-Mobile deal pans out. 

Earlier visits to the FCC and FTC by Sprint chairman Masayoshi Son, and Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, went poorly for the nation's third largest carrier, which doesn't look good for a Sprint T-Mobile deal. However, regulators like the possibility of Dish becoming the fifth largest wireless carrier in the U.S. 

The FCC has already approved Dish's request to use some of its recently purchased H-Block spectrum for satellite transmissions, as a conduit for cellular calls and data.

Source: Bloomberg

Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son Confirms Interest In Buying T-Mobile

There have been rumors circulating for months regarding Sprint's interested in buying T-Mobile but nothing much has come of it. Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son has admitted that the company is interested in purchasing the T-Mobile. The statement came in a TV interview between Son and Charlie Rose.

Son said "We would like to make the deal happen, but there are steps and details that we have to work out." He went on to explain how the deal would allow the number three and number four major wireless carriers in the U.S. to come together and finally be a true competitor to Verizon and AT&T. However, the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have made it clear that such a deal would face quite a bit of regulatory scrutiny. 

Son believes it will allow Sprint to be competitive with Verizon and AT&T, but regulatory bodies would worry that having only 3 carriers of roughly the same size would decrease competition and hurt consumers. This is a reasonable worry especially after seeing the commotion T-Mobile has been making with its UNcarrier plans and how those changes have led to price wars throughout the industry. But, Son says that the deal would allow Sprint to push a faster network more aggressively and offer better prices to compete with the big two. 

Source: Wall Street Journal

Motorola Announces Moto X "College Collection"

Motorola announced today on its blog that its releasing a new “College Collection” of customization options through Moto Maker that will allow those purchasing a Moto X to apply custom school colors and logos for a long list of schools in the US. It’s also offering a discount on the device for students. 

Included in the collection is nine new back colors, three new accent colors, as well as school logos and team names for 40 schools. The logos are actually printed on clear cases from Uncommon rather than on the device itself. You’ll have to select from one of the preconfigured color and school combination.

Motorola is currently offering the Moto X for $399 off-contract, students can get it for $339 by registering at Motorola.com/college using a valid .edu emails address. You can find out more and check out the full College Collection source link below. Motorola says its also looking into adding more schools in the future.

Source: Motorola blog, College Collection Moto Maker

Samsung Officially Announces Galaxy S5

Samsung just announced their flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone during its press conference today at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The new Samsung Galaxy S5 features a built in heart rate sensor that enables new features in the S Health 3.0 app as well as a finger print scanner similar to Apple’s TouchID feature on the iPhone 5S. Samsung confirmed that it will be offering mobile payments with the fingerprint scanner and using it as a security feature to make content in certain apps only accessible when activated by the user’s fingerprint.

Samsung has released some feature details on the new Samsung Galaxy S5 listed below:

• 5.1 inch 1920 x 1080 FHD Super AMOLED display
• 2.5GHz Quad core processor
• Android 4.4.2 (Kitkat)
• heart rate sensor
• 16 megapixel camera, 2.1 megapixel
• fifth generation Wi-Fi 802.11ac and 2X2 MIMO
• Download Booster WiFi-LTE bonding
• Finger Scanner
• IP67 dust and water resistant
• 2800mAh battery
• 2GB RAM
• 16/32GB memory (up to 64GB w/ microSD)
• dimensions: 142.0 x 72.5 x 8.1mm, 145g
• charcoal Black, shimmery White, electric Blue, and copper Gold

Judge Orders Aio Wireless To Choose A Different Color

T-Mobile announced that it has chalked up a win over Aio Wireless regarding a trademark infringement lawsuit. T-Mobile believes Aio Wireless use of their "plum" color in its logo was too close to T-Mobile's own magenta color and branding. 

T-Mobile sued Aio Wireless stating the company switch colors to avoid consumer confusion. A federal court agreed with T-Mobile's position. Aio has been told to cease using the color in its marketing, advertising, stores, web sites, and social media. 

Aio Wireless is owned and operated by AT&T.


Source: T-Mobile

Sprint Chairman Said To Meet With FCC Chief, Possible T-Mobile Deal

SoftBank CEO and Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son is meeting with the head of the Federal Communications Commission today in an attempt to convince the regulatory body that combining Sprint and T-Mobile would be good for the wireless industry. Last week, officials at the U.S. Department of Justice indicated to Son and Sprint CEO Dan Hesse that the agency would not look favorably on such a merger and it would face heavy scrutiny. Son is already holding high-level talks with Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile's parent company. The companies have not publicly announced plans to merge and are still hashing out details, such as a potential break-up fee, which management team would lead moving forward, and which brand would be preserved. Son intends to argue to the FCC that a combined T-Mobile/Sprint would be a stronger competitor to market leaders AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse will also attend the meeting.


Source: WSJ

Sprint Executives Talk T-Mobile With Justice Department

Sprint's senior executives recently met with members of the U.S. Department of Justice to ascertain just how much opposition a merger between Sprint and T-Mobile might face. The meeting included Masayoshi Son, CEO of +SoftBankCorp, which holds a majority stake in Sprint, and Dan Hesse, CEO of +Sprint. Justice Department officials told Son and Hesse that such a deal would "face skepticism" from government regulators, according to people familiar with the details of the conversation. Regulators appear to favor the current competitive environment, which includes four national network operators, as opposed to three were Sprint and T-Mobile to combine. Sprint already has commitments from banks to finance the deal. SoftBank and +Deutsche Telekom, which owns 67% of +T-Mobile, have met to iron out the broad strokes of a merger/acquisition. Many details have yet to be finalized before an acquisition is formally proposed.


Source: Wall Street Journal

Motorola Hosting Hour Long $100 Off Sale On Moto X Devices, January 27th

Motorola announced a new sale that is set to take place next Monday on January 27. The deal will only last a single hour online, beginning at 3pm EST and ending at 4pm EST. During that time frame, you can grab an off contract Moto X for $100 off of the full retail price $299 for the 16GB model and $349 for the 32GB model.

Motorola stated if you miss the $100 off fire sale on Monday, Moto X phones will remain at $70 off of the full contract price until Valentine’s Day in February.

Source: Motorola