{"id":654231,"date":"2013-04-24T11:52:07","date_gmt":"2013-04-24T15:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?p=633988"},"modified":"2013-04-24T11:52:07","modified_gmt":"2013-04-24T15:52:07","slug":"enter-t-metro-metropcs-shareholders-approve-t-mobile-merger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/654231","title":{"rendered":"Enter T-Metro: MetroPCS shareholders approve T-Mobile merger"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark your calendars for May 1, folks. That\u2019s the day MetroPCS ceases being an independent entity and T-Mobile USA will no longer be a fully-owned subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. MetroPCS shareholders on Wednesday voted to back the T-Metro merger<\/a>, granting it the last remaining approval it needed.<\/p>\n

The merger will combine the country\u2019s smallest nationwide carrier with its largest regional carrier, giving the new company a total of 42.5 million wireless customers<\/a>. That\u2019s still not enough to overtake Sprint as the nation\u2019s No. 3, but it will give the new company plenty of spectrum in key markets<\/a>. T-Mobile has plotted a course<\/a> that calls for delivering large quantities of mobile data to consumers at cheap prices and with no contracts. That strategy requires T-Mo to lay its hands on all the spectrum it can find.<\/p>\n

\"metropcs\"<\/a>Though Deutsche Telekom is the one making the buyout offer, T-Mobile will actually become a part of MetroPCS, taking advantage of the U.S. company\u2019s placement on the New York Stock Exchange. DT, however, will own the majority of the shares, and \u2013 though we\u2019ve been calling the new merger T-Metro for short \u2013 the company will take on the name T-Mobile USA. MetroPCS will live on as a brand in T-Mo\u2019s arsenal.<\/p>\n

The deal sailed over regulatory hurdles<\/a> (the FCC didn\u2019t even bother to vote<\/a> on it), but it nevertheless suffered a close call when it came before Metro\u2019s shareholders. Institutional investors took exception<\/a> to what they considered DT\u2019s low-ball offer and threatened to rage a proxy war to derail the deal.<\/p>\n

\"03\/26\/2014<\/a>DT at first played the tough guy refusing back down, but as the shareholder meeting approached earlier this month, it got nervous<\/a>. MetroPCS rescheduled the meeting for this week, while DT proffered up a new terms \u2013 lowering the merged company\u2019s debt load and that debt\u2019s interest rates \u2013 to make the more attractive. It worked. The deal\u2019s biggest opponent, hedge fund Paulson & Co., lifted its protests.<\/p>\n

Once the deal closes, T-Mobile has a long integration process ahead \u2013 an ordeal that makes me question whether the merger is worth the trouble<\/a>. T-Mobile, however, isn\u2019t looking to duct tape together its GSM-based networks and Metro\u2019s CDMA systems. It has something more radical in mind: cannibalizing MetroPCS for its spectrum<\/a>. While T-Mo will keep the Metro brand and support its existing customers, the regional carrier\u2019s CDMA and LTE networks are goners. T-Mobile plans to incorporate Metro\u2019s spectrum<\/a> into its ongoing network overhaul, creating very fast and high-capacity LTE and HSPA+ networks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This post was updated at 9:30 AM Wednesday to add more background details.<\/em><\/p>\n

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