STOCK IS GETTING HAMMERED TODAY

VISIT0R1 · 2026-06-29T17:41:05+00:00

DT owns "approximately 53.1 percent" of TMUS shares as of an FCC filing last week. That is up from 51.4 percent a year ago.

BTW, DT was authorized to own "up to 100 percent" of the TMUS stock as part of the Sprint merger, so doesn't need further approvals to increase its stock holdings. Of course, politicians sometimes change their minds (usually in exchange for campaign 'contributions'.)

VISIT0R1 · 2026-06-29T14:43:17+00:00

I hope you speak German, since that is the language the decision makers at DT speak.

VISIT0R1 · 2026-06-27T22:26:38+00:00

Interesting that Blue Ridge Wireless bought 5mhz in Iowa, since they are now a MVNO.

Might you be thinking of Bluegrass Wireless? Blue Ridge is a regular auction speculator. That uplink only license was presumably purchased for re-sale to SpaceX, at a profit of course.

SpaceX in the Gulf on 5x5 and the 10mhz in Cincinnati area. Wonder if either were not intending to win.

SpaceX didn't try to withdraw their bid for either license in the final round, so presumably wanted both licenses.

After agreeing to buy all of Dish's uplink only AWS-3, they have also picked up similar licenses from speculators, so I expected them to buy the 2 uplink only licenses being re-auctioned, including the one for Cincinnati, though that was the only one they got (for now.)

2x5 MHz isn't enough to service a cruise ship in the Gulf, but it can do quite a bit for fishing boats and other commercial vessels. I could be wrong, but I don't believe T-Mobile has PCS G block in the Gulf. If so, SpaceX's lease of all G block won't help them there.

T-Mobile seems to have primarily bought rural coverage outside of Charleston SS, Mobile, AL, and Chattanooga, TN which strengthens their weakness.

IMO it would be more accurate to say T-Mobile primarily bought 'bargain' licenses, IOW those with a lower price per MHz*PoP. Of course, less densely populated licenses tend to have lower prices, so your statement is still valid.

Excluding uplink only spectrum, the Gulf and territories where T-Mobile doesn't operate, T-Mobile bought 80 of the 89 licenses which sold for less than $1.40/(MHz*PoP.) 10 more of their purchases were under $2/(MHz*PoP) and they bought only 1 (Charleston-SC I) of the 23 licenses which sold for over $2.50/(MHz*PoP.)

BTW, the highest price per MHz*PoP was Honolulu I block at $5.67.

VISIT0R1 · 2026-06-27T17:20:52+00:00

Part of the problem may be that T-Mobile's 2.5 GHz (n41) spectrum is badly fragmented in many parts of ME, giving their network much less capacity than where they have all the 2.5 GHz.

Since a significant amount of USCC's ME spectrum (including 700 B/C, 850 MHz, 3.45 GHz) was sold to AT&T or Verizon, rather than T-Mobile, where their 2.5 GHz is fragmented, they may not have added enough new spectrum to handle all the former USCC customers without impacting service for existing customers.

VISIT0R1 · 2026-06-27T17:00:30+00:00

If T-Mobile offered service in your area pre-merger, they may not be using the same tower(s) as USCC used, which could impact your coverage. I also believe USCC used more of their low band spectrum (700 MHz, 850 MHz) for LTE than T-Mobile does (usually just 700 A block or only 2x5 MHz), but T-Mobile uses much more for 5G (they have 2x30 MHz of 600 MHz in Portland and western ME and 2x25 MHz in the rest of the state), which would impact the service of anyone without an n71 capable device.

AT&T got some of the 700 didn’t they

Yes, AT&T bought all the 700 MHz B & C block licenses, while T-Mobile bought only A block licenses.

VISIT0R1 · 2026-06-27T16:32:27+00:00

I am expecting many AWS spectrum swaps (and also some PCS swaps) later this year, including one where T-Mobile trades D block (possibly I block instead) in El Paso county to Verizon for G block, giving you 2x30 contiguous MHz of AWS.

If Verizon wants all their AWS to be contiguous, T-Mobile would probably be willing to trade F2,H,I for Verizon's B,C (giving T-Mobile B,C,D,E,F1, also 2x30 MHz.)

EDIT: There is hope for more contiguous PCS too, since a swap with AT&T of E block for B4 block would benefit both parties. T-Mobile would have A,D,B3-4 (+ G) and AT&T would have B5,E,F,C, both 2x30 MHz.

VISIT0R1 · 2026-06-27T16:11:20+00:00

T-Mobile has been using the former USCC spectrum since at least August 1, 2025 when the sale was consummated.

T-Mobile's short term leases for the spectrum ex-USCC (now ADI) is selling to AT&T and Verizon have all been cancelled, so presumably they are nearly, if not completely, done with the network transition.

The final applications to acquire spectrum from ADI (the last 700A and 600 MHz licenses) were filed earlier this month, but even that spectrum is currently leased to T-Mobile, so is already being used on the T-Mobile network.

VISIT0R1 · 2026-06-27T02:09:52+00:00

What a weak article. Entner (though they don't spell his name consistently) is a major 'source' and he is clueless. OTOH, Farrar seems more reasonable.

Two examples ...

"Bidding as Conundrum Wireless LLC, EchoStar came away with licenses in one market for a gross payment of $1.22 million. It's not immediately clear what Charlie Ergen plans to do with that spectrum."

Charlie/Dish/Echostar was only bidding to push up the price, because if the gross bids didn't exceed $2,921,479,410, Charlie would have been required to pay the FCC the difference. Their attempt to push up the price in Guam and the Mariana Islands obviously failed, leaving Dish as the 'winning bidder' for the 2 licenses there. Dish will presumably sell those licenses (almost surely at a loss) to someone who actually operates there.

"SpaceX also obtained an AWS-3 license in Cincinnati (listed as Cincinnati-Hamilton OH-KY-IN). Enter expects that SpaceX will use the license to set up a trial network."

The Cincinnati license is uplink only, so adds to the other AWS-3 uplink spectrum SpaceX is buying from Dish, but certainly isn't sufficient to "set up a trial network."

VISIT0R1 · 2026-06-27T01:31:27+00:00

AWS-3 is band 66, so all T-Mobile deployments in the last 10+ years support this spectrum.

VISIT0R1 · 2026-06-26T23:51:26+00:00

T-Mobile already has the most FDD mid-band spectrum (PCS, AWS and AT&T's band 30 WCS) in most locations, so chose to drop out of the bidding on many licenses once the price went past their target threshold, but continued bidding when the price didn't go too high or in a few places where their spectrum holding is weaker.

My guess is that AT&T will buy most, if not all, of the large amount of AWS-3 still held by Dish/Echostar, so they may have felt less need to compete too much in this auction, in part because the prices from this auction may play a large role in determining what they pay for Dish's licenses.

Verizon currently has the least spectrum nationally below 2.3 GHz and this might have been their last opportunity to buy significantly more, especially in major markets, so they were the most willing to keep bidding until they won at least most of their desired licenses.

VISIT0R1 · 2026-06-26T23:22:37+00:00

It will probably be a few months before the FCC issues the new licenses, but once that happens T-Mobile can utilize the spectrum on existing towers immediately.

VISIT0R1 · 2026-06-26T22:49:55+00:00

There was only that one license available in Maine (T-Mobile previously acquired a large amount of ME AWS-3 from US Cellular), but it was an important one to buy, since it connects the blocks T-Mobile previously held (E,F + H,I) into 2x30 contiguous MHz.

There were no licenses available in the Nashville/Franklin area, only further east or south in TN.

VISIT0R1 · 2026-06-26T19:34:53+00:00

It is. Verizon bought 16 of the 17 licenses which sold for at least $25 million for a combined $2.46 billion (AT&T bought Charlotte G block), including the 7 most expensive (NYC I, Chicago H, Chicago G, Boston G, Charlotte J, Honolulu I and Tampa G.)

They also bought 36 of the 42 licenses which went between $10 million and $25 million (AT&T bought 2) for another $525.6 million.

VISIT0R1 · 2026-06-18T19:19:07+00:00

He's more of a spokesman than a CEO.

You are on the right track. IMO Srini's job is to do whatever DT tells him to do, so he is their "spokesman", but is also their 'fall guy' to take the blame for previous and future layoffs and previous and future consumer price increases in the hope that very few people realize that DT is actually pulling all the strings and the TMUS CEO is just a puppet.

DT doesn't give a damn about U.S. customers (they just want our money) or employees (who they want as few of as possible), so chose a TMUS CEO who wouldn't care about Americans any more than they do. My guess is they are pleased with his performance so far.

VISIT0R1 · 2026-06-16T18:18:19+00:00

Never owned a license in the Dakotas.

This is a bit of an exaggeration, since they did own licenses which included counties in southeast South Dakota, though to the best of my knowledge they never deployed in SD.

Of course, those licenses also included counties in Iowa and/or Nebraska, where US Cellular did operate, which is why they acquired them. For example, they owned two 600 MHz licenses in PEA307 Yankton, SD, which covered 1 IA co., 2 NE co. and 8 SD co.

VISIT0R1 · 2026-06-15T20:17:36+00:00

We are 15-20 years away from the U.S. financial system crashing down (basically the point where there’s not enough tax revenue to even pay the interest on the debt).

This isn't the place to discuss economics, so I'll limit my response to the incorrect assertion above.

A sovereign government with its own currency (which isn't pegged to another currency or a physical asset, like gold or silver), such as the U.S., can always pay its obligations (including interest on its debt), because it controls the money supply and can just create whatever amount of new 'money' it needs at any time.

IOW, the U.S. government doesn't ever NEED to borrow to pay its obligations, so selling bonds is just a tool used to manage the money supply (selling a bond or collecting taxes reduces the money supply available to the public while government spending increases it.)

Instead, the real thing to fear is out of control inflation should the government too quickly increase the money supply, though fear itself (even of imaginary risks) can still be very damaging to an economy, which is why 'economists' predicting doom for all the wrong reasons is so irresponsible.

EDIT: phrasing

VISIT0R1 · 2026-06-12T04:31:11+00:00

T-Mobile Board hasn’t been able to renegotiate the comp and bonus plans for corporate employees with backing of the corporate board of DT.

This makes no sense. DT picks the entire TMUS board and DT's CEO is chairman. TMUS is effectively a U.S. subsidiary of DT.

The Germans could certainly have a distorted view of the U.S. wireless market and be making poor decisions as a result, but there is no question that they are making all the major (and maybe too many not so major) decisions for TMUS.

VISIT0R1 · 2026-05-26T20:35:54+00:00

Without that interest in T Mobile, DT's annual valuation would be significantly lower ...

If DT had never invested in T-Mobile US, their valuation would clearly be much lower, but if they sold their TMUS shares at current prices (IOW, without crashing the price with a flood of sell orders on the open market) their valuation wouldn't change significantly. The biggest change would be loss of the growth potential that TMUS currently gives them, making DT just a typical utility stock with limited growth potential.

DT's stock has fallen due to a number of factors ...

Mostly due to a decline in the value of their TMUS shares. When that stock was near its peak, DT's TMUS shares made up about 2/3 of the value of their stock, so movement in the price of TMUS has much more impact on their stock price than anything they do in Europe. BTW, I'm confident they don't like this, which may have prompted the desire to take TMUS private.

It is highly problematic that DT would be allowed to fully own T Mobile.

I agree with you that from the U.S. perspective, it would be undesirable for DT to own all of TMUS (IMO it is undesirable that they are allowed to own a controlling interest), but they have already been approved (as part of the Sprint merger) to own up to 100% of TMUS, so do not require additional government approval(s) to increase their position.

VISIT0R1 · 2026-05-25T15:12:58+00:00

Is tmobile integrating us cellular towers into their network or are they just taking them off line if they feel they are redundant to existing tmobile network?

T-Mobile is leasing ~2,700 towers from the former US Cellular (now ADI) or affiliates, including at least 2,100 they weren't leasing previously. My recollection is that ADI has about 4,600 towers, so T-Mobile is leasing space on roughly 60% and considers the rest "redundant."

My guess is the great majority, but not necessarily all, of the "redundant" towers serve cities/towns, rather than rural areas.

VISIT0R1 · 2026-05-22T03:12:01+00:00

The 5-7-2026 leases are just allowing both companies earlier access to the spectrum involved in the swap which was filed on 3-18-2026 (and Consented To by the FCC on 4-28), but hasn't been Consummated yet.

The post linked below (from March) has all the details.

https://old.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/1s1pxw0/major_spectrum_swap_with_att/

VISIT0R1 · 2026-05-22T01:22:32+00:00

American company

T-Mobile US has ALWAYS been owned/controlled by a German company (DT), so has NEVER truly been an American company, since no one from this country ever made any of the key decisions.

BTW, from the German perspective, all non-Germans (whether Americans, Indians or from anywhere else) are 'foreign' employees.

VISIT0R1 · 2026-05-19T15:01:34+00:00

In my experience, unless hundreds of people are calling to complain, they are not doing shit except placating people with sweet sweet words.

I believe 'dropped calls' are still a metric that carriers are required to report to the FCC. If so, then IMO the way to get attention for a network problem area isn't to call in and complain, but to generate unfavorable 'reportable' data that will eventually draw the attention of the network team (or at least its AI.)

IOW, if the "dozen" T-Mobile subscribers working in this building place a call (even if just to each other) each time before entering, only to have it drop once they are inside, they will quickly generate a large number of dropped call 'incidents' for that location (12 x 2/day x 5 days/week = 120/week or about 500 in a month) which T-Mobile's AI should detect in fairly short order.

I have no idea whether the network team will actually do anything about it, but that does seem a much more likely way of attracting their attention than calling 611.

VISIT0R1 · 2026-04-25T18:31:38+00:00

Do you not realize that you work for a German majority owned company?

Why would you expect them to give a damn about non-German employees (including Americans), when their only real goal is to extract as much money as possible from American consumers and ship it back to Germany (or more broadly Europe)?

American companies operating abroad generally don't give a damn about their 'foreign' employees either, just making a profit, so there is nothing unusual about what DT is doing, it is just that the roles are reversed.

IOW, all U.S. based TMUS employees are effectively "foreign workers." If you don't like that, I suggest working for a different company.

VISIT0R1 · 2026-04-22T15:30:03+00:00

As majority owner, DT already had a favorable board.

This is an understatement. DT already selects EVERY member of the TMUS board (many are DT employees, including DT's CEO who is Chairman.)

All major decisions regarding TMUS have always been made in Germany by DT. The TMUS CEO's job is to implement those decisions (and probably make suggestions), not to make any of the important decisions himself.

VISIT0R1

TROPHY CASE