There's been a lot of craziness going on in the mobile
sector in recent months. Apple
recently hooked up with Verizon with the iPhone 4, Microsoft and Nokia are now
partners with Windows Phone 7, and Google's Android OS has been burning
up the global smartphone sales charts.
When it comes to wireless carriers, the move to LTE isn't
the only big thing that's grabbing headlines these days -- a new
report from Bloomberg suggests
that Deutsche Telekom AG is considering selling its T-Mobile USA division to
Sprint Nextel. When it comes to selling the entire business or just portions of
the business, all options are on the table according to Deutsche Telekom.
Discussions are still ongoing as a final valuation on the
deal has yet to be agreed upon.
T-Mobile, the fourth largest carrier in the United States,
is having a hard time staying afloat in an increasingly cutthroat market.
Whereas as wireless competitors like Verizon (largest U.S. carrier) and
AT&T (second largest U.S. carrier) saw an overall net gain in customers
during 2010, T-Mobile actually lost over 50,000 customers during the same
period.
It was leaked today that T-Mobile has plans to launch a new 10GB
webConnect data plan for its smartphone users at a cost of $79.99 per
month. The new service plan will be available starting March 13.
Sprint has also been in the news recently following reports
that it is considering a move
away from WiMAX in order to embrace LTE technology. The adoption of LTE
would bring America's third-largest wireless carrier in line with Verizon and
AT&T, which have already rolled out LTE in select markets.
