Yesterday we covered the failed AT&T/T-Mobile deal from the AT&T perspective, but what about those of you that are existing T-Mobile customers? I hate to be negative Nancy, but it doesn't look like there's good news coming in your stocking this week. While initially customers won't notice a change in service, because honestly, nothing happened so everything is the same, the future might be different. One of the reasons T-Mobile agreed to be sold was because the parent company wanted to get out of the US market. Usually when this happens, it means the company is tired of putting money into a losing market, so going forward the company can expect to bleed cash which will result in less innovative products and worse customer service. Parent company Deutsche Telecom could still sell the company which would be great for existing customers, but the question remains, to whom? If the Justice Department didn't like the AT&T deal, it certainly won't like if Verizon or Sprint bid for the company and potential buyers will have to battle the giants for bandwidth which will be costly.
So where does this leave T-Mobile and it's base of loyal customers? Well customers can rule out getting the iPhone that's for sure. The deals that cellphone carriers cut with Apple are really costly, often with the carrier losing money on the handset sales, only to recoup some money by getting customers to agree to two year contracts. If T-Mobile is already losing money, it certainly won't get into this market. Deutsche Telecom could use some of the $3 billion breakup fee to invest in the company or to market to existing customers to lock them into longer term contracts. However for a company that is looking to get out of the US market, this seems unlikely. And lets be honest, who wants to extend a contract with a company that doesn't want to be there in the first place and isn't going to continue to bring innovative new products to it's users? That's like insisting on playing with your Fiddlesticks because you like the brand while your buddies are playing Xbox in the other room. That leaves T-Mobile with one real option, more of the same with a possible dissolution in the future. That's sort of good news for existing customers as the company has always been praised for great customer service and the company will be more desperate than ever to keep customers, so the level of service should be even better. Just don't expect them to be bringing any cool new phones to their existing network.
For some more interesting perspective on the future of the company,
click here.
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Posted by GetHuman on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 4:35pm