T-Mobile USA is looking at possible joint ventures with cable companies and network providers to boost its spectrum capacity, reports Reuters. Speaking at an investor conference in Frankfurt, CEO of T-Mobile USA Robert Dotson stated that the company had been talking with both Clearwire and cable companies about future business opportunities.
Asked whether T-Mobile USA would consider teaming up with U.S. competitor Sprint Nextel, Dotson said: “What you never want to do is take one company that is going through challenges and take another company going through challenges”.
There have been reports since September that T-Mobile USA was in partnership discussions with Clearwire, which is located only a few miles away from its Bellevue, Wash.-area headquarters.
MetroPCS and AT&T are other possible partners for T-Mobile USA, says Moco News. Deutsche Telekom has also been said to be mulling either an IPO or spinoff of the fourth-largest U.S. carrier.
Whether T-Mobile would utilize HSPA+, TD-LTE, FDD-LTE or possibly Mobile WiMAX with Clearwire spectrum remains to be seen.
T-Mobile USA (33.4 million subs) aims to supply around 185 million POPs with HSPA+ by the end of 2010, and expects to double the number of 3G smartphones in the network to around 8 million.
Meanwhile, Metro PCS (6.6 million subs) has hired advisers to look into purchasing competing carrier Leap Wireless (4.5 million subs). This news comes just days after Leap reportedly began exploring a potential sale. Rumors of a merger between these two regional CDMA carriers have been circulating for years and, increasingly, it’s looking like a matter of when the merger will happen, not if it will, opines Connected Planet.
Separately, Deutsche Telekom yesterday announced a new strategy that focuses on intelligent networks as the world moves from voice-centric wired communications to one surrounding broadband. “The industry is changing and we are transforming Deutsche Telekom,” said CEO René Obermann at the presentation of the Group strategy “Fix – Transform – Innovate” in Bonn on Wednesday.
