Every few years, you’ll hear rumors that Deutsche Telekom is planning to spin off T-Mobile USA but the German carrier said this isn’t in the plans any time soon.
Chief Executive Officer René Obermann said he isn’t “fully satisfied” with how the fourth-largest U.S. carrier is performing but it remains committed to the magenta mobile operator because: “After all, it is making us a great deal of money.”
T-Mobile is still solidly in fourth place but it doesn’t appear to be gaining much traction with its 33.8 million subscribers. Sprint, which has been hemorrhaging subscribers for years, still has close to 50 million subscribers and AT&T and Verizon more than double T-Mobile’s base. T-Mobile’s no-contract Even More plans are going pretty well but the prepaid customers aren’t as lucrative as the post-paid ones.
On the positive side, T-Mobile is experiencing an uptick in smartphone users and its 3G network has advanced by leaps and bounds in a very short time. A few years ago it had virtually no 3G service, but its HSPA+ network should cover nearly 200 million people by the end of the year. This will also deliver a whopping 21 Mbps download limit, potentially making it the fastest of the four major carriers.
[Via The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), hat tip to PhoneScoop]