Talks on asset divestments aimed at saving the AT&T/T-Mobile USA deal have “gone cold”, according to a media report. Citing unnamed people familiar with the situation, the Wall Street Journal wrote that AT&T and Deutsche Telekom had been looking to…
Talks on asset divestments aimed at saving the AT&T/T-Mobile USA deal have “gone cold”, according to a media report.
Citing unnamed people familiar with the situation, the Wall Street Journal wrote that AT&T and Deutsche Telekom had been looking to divest assets, mainly from T-Mobile USA, to other wireless carriers in order to mitigate concerns from the US government about the impact of the deal on competition.
Yet, according to the report’s sources, these talks have faltered and alternatives to a full merger have become more likely. The sources reportedly said that these options could include AT&T acquiring a smaller stake in T-Mobile USA or organising a JV for network technology sharing.
The US telco and German incumbent had reportedly been in talks to sell assets to mobile operator Leap Wireless. These assets were worth more than 30% of the value of the deal.
Yet the sources reportedly suggested that the talks with Leap had faltered amid concern that it was not likely that the deal would convince the US Department of Justice (DoJ), even if these divestments were agreed.
The WSJ report also stated that other potential buyers of assets from the deal were the satellite-TV provider Dish Network and mobile operator MetroPCS Communications, as well as unnamed foreign buyers.
The DoJ brought a lawsuit to block the AT&T/T-Mobile deal in August.
Earlier in December, AT&T and Deutsche Telekom asked for the US district court case to be halted, so that they could “evaluate all options”.
AT&T will have to file a status report on the deal to the court by 12 January.
