Deutsche Telekom rumored to be leaving the U.S. mobile market

For those unfamiliar, Deutsche Telekom is the parent company of US carrier T-Mobile. As you might have heard, there have also been talks that T-Mobile could be bought up by Sprint and in the past we have seen how other carriers, such as AT&T, have attempted to purchase T-Mobile as well. All of this seems to indicate that Deutsche Telekom wants to exit the US market as they believe that by being fourth place, behind AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, it would limited their long-term profitability.

Deutsche Telekom’s new boss may soon face a tough decision on whether to try selling the company’s U.S. mobile business to Japan’s Softbank, and risk the cost and disruption of being thwarted by U.S. regulators keen to protect competition. The German group ultimately would like to sell T-Mobile US because it sees its fourth position behind Verizon , AT&T, and Softbank’s Sprint as limiting long-term profitability, said people familiar with its thinking. A U.S. exit would also give Deutsche Telekom more firepower to upgrade its networks in Germany, where it faces stiff competition from cable operators, and expand in Eastern Europe, as it did with a deal announced on Monday to take full control of its Czech subsidiary for $1 billion.