This year we have heard rumors about Sprint acquiring T-Mobile U.S. many times but as per the latest reports, Sprint and its parent company Softbank have now given up on this and are no longer after Magenta. However a few weeks ago Iliad, a French telecommunications company, submitted a $15 billion takeover bid for T-Mobile U.S. out of the blue. While that bid was rejected the company’s CFO has hinted that T-Mobile may be open to a sale if the price is right.
Back when the Sprint T-Mobile deal was in the rumor mill it was said that the former was going to put up a bid of over $30 billion. In contrast Iliad’s bid was nearly half of what was on the table then.
Talking at an investor conference, T-Mobile CFO Braxton Carter said that while Iliad’s to buyout 57 percent of the company was “very flattering” it was an “inadequate” value proposition. He hinted that the company might consider a higher offer. The sentiment has already been echoed by Deutsche Telekom which owns 67 percent of T-Mobile U.S., its open to a buyout at the right price.
There are more chances of a buyout by Iliad going through then there ever were of one by Sprint. It was widely reported that federal regulators didn’t want more consolidation in the market, even though Sprint and T-Mobile together would have been able to better change Verizon and AT&T. If Iliad takes over T-Mobile U.S. will continue to remain an independent carrier in the country and won’t be absorbed into another national U.S. carrier.
However just last week Deutsche Telekom CEO Timotheus Höttges revealed that at this point in time there is no offer on the table. We’ll have to wait and see if T-Mobile U.S. has any more suitors willing to pony up some serious money.