US cableco Comcast is reportedly not interested in acquiring Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile US after all. Contrary to yesterday’s report in Germany’s Manager Magazin, which said Comcast was in takeover talks with the German incumbent, there are no such…
US cableco Comcast is reportedly not interested in acquiring Deutsche Telekom‘s T-Mobile US after all.
Contrary to yesterday’s report in Germany’s Manager Magazin, which said Comcast was in takeover talks with the German incumbent, there are no such discussions, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile declined to comment, while Comcast was not immediately available.
A Comcast-T-Mobile merger would combine the country’s largest cableco with the fourth-largest mobile operator.
Since 2012, Comcast has had an FCC-approved commercial partnership agreement with Verizon Wireless, allowing it to sell the mobile operator’s products as part of bundles with its own cable services. In its initial announcement at the end of 2011, Comcast said that under the agreement, it would have the option to become an MVNO running on Verizon’s network.
“Comcast could purchase Verizon Wireless’ service at wholesale rates and then market and sell its own, branded wireless service in connection with our bundled offerings…” the cableco said at the time.
While some analysts consider Comcast-T-Mobile US a logical combination, other sector experts are more skeptical.
One veteran US telecoms adviser told TelecomFinance that Comcast is unlikely to pursue another M&A transaction in the wake of its failed bid for Time Warner Cable, opposed by federal regulators. In this person’s view, the FCC’s resistance to the deal was effectively a punishment since Comcast had failed to adhere to some conditions of its NBC Universal acquisition.
The adviser believes that Dish Network, reportedly in advanced talks about a T-Mobile merger, is likely to see the deal through to completion.
However, this person did not completely rule out other potential suitors for Dish: in the unlikely event that incumbent telco AT&T does not win regulatory approval for its planned purchase of DirecTV, it could look at Dish. Verizon is another possible contender, although it probably wouldn’t make sense in light of its strategy for its bundled internet, phone and TV service FiOS. Sprint, whose previous talks with T-Mobile US did not receive any regulatory nod, and tier-two fixed-line operators such as CenturyLink, Windstream and Frontier were possible, but unlikely, contenders.
