AT&T Plans To Buy T-Mobile
AT&T will pay about $25 billion in cash and the balance in company stock in a deal that gives Deutsche Telekom, which owns T-Mobile, about an 8 percent equity stake in AT&T.
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RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
NPR's business news starts with big moves in the mobile phone industry.
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MONTAGNE: AT&T has announced plans to buy T-Mobile, a move that would make it the country's largest wireless phone company. T-Mobile is currently owned by Germany's Deutsche Telekom. AT&T says it will pay $39 billion in cash in cash and stock for its smaller rival. The combined company would have 129 million subscribers, putting it way ahead of Verizon.
It would also reduce the number of major U.S. wireless carriers to three. It could be a while before this happens. Anti-trust regulators still have to scrutinize and sign off on the deal.
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