FRANKFURT, Oct 3 (Reuters) – Deutsche Telekom and
MetroPCS agreed to merge their operations in the United States,
leading to an impairment charge of at least 7 billion euros ($9
billion) for Telekom in a move that might allow the company to
exit the U.S. wireless market.
Deutsche Telekom will hold 74 percent and MetroPCS 26
percent in the combined entity, Deutsche Telekom said in a
statement on Wednesday, confirming a report from German paper
Financial Times Deutschland.
The plan comes less than a year after U.S. antitrust
regulators quashed Telekom’s plan to sell T-Mobile USA, the
fourth-largest U.S. mobile service provider, to AT&T; Inc,
the second-largest, for $39 billion.
Once Telekom’s strongest growth engine, T-Mobile USA has
been losing customers to bigger and smaller rivals in recent
years, partly because it is not authorized to sell the Apple
iPhone.
