AT&T and Deutsche Telekom just announced the sale of T-Mobile USA for $39 billion — $25 billion cash and $14 billion in AT&T stock, giving Deutsche Telekom an 8% stake in the U.S. telecom giant.  If the deal passes regulatory approval, which the companies estimate will take up to 12 months to complete, the combined subscriber base would exceed 130 million, making AT&T by far the largest mobile operator in America (followed by Verizon and Sprint).  Moreover, since AT&T and T-Mobile are the country’s only major GSM operators, AT&T would gain a monopoly on GSM cell service in the U.S.

AT&T says the deal will bring “straightforward synergies” due to ”complementary network technologies, spectrum positions and operations.”  The company also claims the deal will expand the footprint of its LTE 4G service by 46.5 million people, to 294 million, or 95% of the U.S. population.  T-Mobile USA itself had no clear plans to migrate to LTE, however, suggesting that AT&T intends to use T-Mobile’s AWS spectrum (1700/2100 MHz) for LTE, alongside its own 700 MHz bands.

If the deal does not receive regulatory approval, AT&T will have to pay T-Mobile a $3 billion “breakup fee,” transfer AWS spectrum it is currently not using for LTE deployment to T-Mobile, and sign a roaming agreement to give T-Mobile access to its network.

Read on for more about the deal.

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