AT&T has announced that it will buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom for $39 billion in order to improve its coverage and capacity, primarily for data/smartphone services. A towering sum, but indeed a cheap solution to all the capacity problems and user dissatisfaction in conjunction with the launch of iPhone services in 2007. The 80-fold increase in wireless-data usage has led to widespread connectivity issues and a massive perception problem, usually referred to as the “iMess”. Improving a the service is a must to prevent a massive exodus to the competitors. Although 39 billion sounds like a lot, its just the start. Although a lot of hope seems to be tied to new flashy 4G technology – there is really no cheap shortcut to providing better services and higher data rate. Face it – its still mainly about more base stations and denser networks …and many more invested dollar in concrete, steel and fiber access.
(Thanks Pietro for the pointer)