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T-Mobile raises stateside stakes |
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Tuesday, 18 September 2007 |
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German company in US$2.4bn outlay for near-unknown US wireless operator, SunCom.
Deutsche Telekom’s wireless subsidiary, T-Mobile is to pay US$1.6bn for SunCom Wireless Holding in the United States, taking on an additional US$800mn in SunCom debt along the way. SunCom operates GSM services in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, serving 1.1mn customers at mid-year..
“With the acquisition of SunCom, we will continue to implement our strategy to ‘grow abroad with mobile’, which is part of our overall group strategy,” said René Obermann, chairman of the Board of Management of T-Mobile’s parent, Deutsche Telekom. “At the same time we can realize significant synergies on the cost side and improve our market presence. As a result, this acquisition will fit very well with our strategy to grow abroad with mobile primarily within our current footprint within the context of market consolidation."
While grandscale US consolidation in cellular has taken place via mega-mergers in the last few years, (notwithstanding the fraught relations between Verzion and Vodafone whose US joint-venture is about as intellectually unconsolidated as it could be), there are still many minnows to be hoovered up by the bigger fish.
Looks like those minnows command a hefty price tag, too.
Jim Chalmers
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