back to article AT&T's megablunder payout revealed

Details of AT&T's "we screwed the pooch" payout to Deutsche Telekom over the failed T-Mobile USA acquisition have emerged, and right ... about ... now ... AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson should be barricading himself in his corner office as pitchfork-brandishing shareholders demand his head on a platter. First off, …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Can't stop thinking

    There must be some trick in this deal. Just seems so outrageously ridiculous otherwise.

    Anyone have any clue what it may be?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      .

      DT will start a take over of AT&T, there's bad news to push the stock down than when no ones looking they can invest the 3bn and get a large stake.

    2. Eddy Ito

      Perhaps they took M&A advice from Leo Apotheker and got lucky.

    3. Version 1.0 Silver badge
      Happy

      Well, for starters AT&T users will get access to T-Mobile networks - and in many areas the T-Mobile data access is far better than AT&T - but that swings both ways so there are some areas of the country that T-Mobile didn't serve that will now be opened up to T-Mobile. This is going to benefit both companies but is probably more in AT&Ts favor than T-Mobiles - remember that AT&T's rational for the takeover was to gain spectrum ... OK so they don't "own" it but if they can use it what's the difference?

      Add to this that AT&T now have complete details of the T-Mobile marketing plans for the future and current financials - they know what's working for T-Mobile ... and what's not working for them. Advantage AT&T I think ...

      Currently T-Mobile seems to be a capable company with customer service that's only marginally worse than AT&T - however they have a big price advantage in the US ... I expect them to do well competing against AT&T and Verizon.

  2. Peter 39

    decent pricing

    I just want decent pricing and non-gouging on the phones.

    There is no valid reason why AT&T can keep phones locked after the contract/subsidy term is up. I had expected that this would change when Verizon became the second carrier. Unfortunately not. I *will* not buy another from AT&T since they refuse to unlock.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Duh

      So just buy the phone unlocked at the start and quit whining. OK so the phone costs a little more but what do you expect - a free lunch? If you can do the math then you'll find that buying the phone will pay for itself inside 12 months.

      Written on a Samsung Nexus (running Ice Cream Sandwich) via a T-Mobile network paying $50 for unlimited talk/text and data. And free tethering too!

  3. Levente Szileszky
    Stop

    Nah, CEO Stephenson is just a really-really incompetent douche...

    ...who went so far as sending out his scumbag lawyers to threaten one *his* customers who dared to *email* him twice in one week: http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/02/atandt-warns-customer-that-emailing-the-ceo-will-result-in-a-cease/

    Seriously, look at the pic - the quintessential douche, pulling a seven-digit paycheck (for nothing as latest news clearly showed.)

  4. alexh2o
    Paris Hilton

    Not bleeding customers...

    Actually, T-Mobile USA last quarter reported increased revenue, profits and subscribers. Not quite the dire outlook you gave it!

    1. Michael Jennings

      The problem is financial markets and European related

      In happier days, Deutsche Telecom bought all these foreign mobile carriers in the US, the UK, and elsewhere. Now they have discovered that mobile isn't a growth business any more, and they have a lot of debt, and a major shareholder (the German government still owns around 35% of the company either directly or via a stretched bank) that has all kinds of other problems and which definitely wants out, but even more definitely is not going to give them any more capital. Within a couple of years, T-Mobile US is going to need to build a 4G network, and it simply does not have the money. They either have to find a network sharing arrangement with somebody else, or find the money somewhere, probably by being bought by someone with deep pockets. If not their long term prognosis is fairly poor.

  5. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Joke

    "Dear Randall"

    This is the best Christmas present we have ever had.

    We could not have done it without you.

    Thanks a Billion

    Your old friend

    Rene.

  6. RollinPowell
    Happy

    Take that, deathstar!

    I'm thrilled that the merger didn't go through. I prefer GSM phones and am a T-mobile prepay customer - T-mobile's plan is ~$25 cheaper than AT&T's and I get 5GB of data instead of 2GB with AT&T *and* free tethering. I'm in NYC so coverage isn't an issue for me and I get great data speeds.

    I worked for AT&T for 2 years as one of the poor bastards behind the counter at a wireless retail store and the more you know about AT&T, the more you hate them. The T-mobile merger would have been just like the whole AT&T Wireless merged to Cingular merged back to AT&T fiasco - higher prices as soon as you lost your grandfathered-in plan and worse service. (to be fair that did happen during the analog-digital transition but I still blame AT&T)

    It feels weird to say this, but here's to you FCC - you finally got something right!!

  7. Trevor 7
    Happy

    New T Mobile customers

    With news that AT&T isn't going to buy them, and TMobile has more spectrum, I expect that you will see more subscribers go (back) to T Mobile. The wife and I had delayed getting a new phone waiting to here how this was going to play out. I had no plans to be an AT&T customer./

  8. David Kelly 2

    T-Mobile is Good Enough for me

    I've been a T-Mobile subscriber for 11 or 12 years. There is only one place 70 miles out in the countryside where I don't have sufficient coverage. Upgraded my phone to a quad band GSM 5 years ago to get access to 850 MHz which T-Mobile doesn't use, but at the time had free roaming on AT&T/Cingular. Recently that roaming seems to have ended without announcement. Based on news reports its coming back.

    Meanwhile I stay with T-Mobile because no one else has a comparably priced plan.

    Blasphemy to say this in an IT forum but while I have at least 5 Macs, I have never had a smartphone or iPhone and no intention to get one in the near future. Even have text disabled.

  9. Gene Cash Silver badge
    Pint

    Hats off to Deutsche Telekom

    I'm sure AT&T thought "there's no chance this won't be approved, who cares what the failure terms say?" but then that's a blatant failure of due diligence.

    If this is an indication of how the Germans do their business deals, then it's no wonder the German economy is kicking European butts.

    Anybody that gives AT&T a good screwing in a business deal, gets a beer from me.

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