T-MOBILE USA, INC
A BRIEF HISTORY OF DEUTSCHE TELEKOM, AG
Deutsche Telekom AG also known as German Telecom in English is the parent company of T-Mobile US one of the largest telecommunication companies in the world with its head quarters in Bonn, Germany. It was founded in the year 1996 and has offices in about fifty (50) countries including the United States (T-Mobile USA). It has about 200 million customers and a total of 247,000 employees all over the world. As of 2010, Deutsche Telekom AG generated Eur 62.4 billion in revenue and over half of it was from outside Germany; location. Its current CEO is Rene Obermann
History of T-Mobile USA, Inc
T-Mobile USA, Inc is a the United States operating body of T-Mobile International AG, which is the mobile telecommunication subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. It is one of the largest mobile network operators in the United States market with revenue of $21.35 billion and 33.73 million customers and reaching over 293 prospective subscribers (all figures are as of 2010. See Exhibit 1) and its headquarters in Bellevue, Washington. It provides telecommunication and information technology services like messaging, wireless voice, internet coverage etc. It’s current CEO and President is Philipp Humm.
T-Mobile started operations in 1994 as “VoiceStream Wireless PCS” which was established as a subsidiary of Western Wireless Corporation, and in December 1997 the United States Federal Regulations granted the request of Western Wireless to “exceed foreign ownership cap” and this made it possible for Hutchinson Whampoa, a company based in Hong Kong to buy a 19.9% stake in VoiceStream Wireless.
By 1999, May 3rd to be precise, Western Wireless sold off the shares of VoiceStream to its shareholders thus making VoiceStream independent. This was done to eliminate conglomerate discount and to allow the subsidiary go after its own independent strategies. For VoiceStream, one of it was the acquisition of two regional network operators; Omnipoint Corporation in the northeast and Aerial Communications, Inc situated in the Midwest. Both companies were acquired in February and May 2010 respectively. With the acquisition in place, VoiceStream was able to put in place standard business practices and also launch its marketing strategy of “Get More”. (This was later changed to “Stick Together” in 2007 by T-Mobile USA).
Globalization opened a lot of opportunities for businesses to become multinational. It was during this era that Deutsche Telekom penetrated the telecommunication business in the United States by the acquisition of VoiceStream Wireless, Inc for $35 billion dollars and Powertel Inc, a southern regional network for $24billion which was finalized on June 1, 2001. Before the end of that year, VoiceStream had about 7million subscribers and 19,000 employees serving them. Over a year later; in July 2002 precisely, VoiceStream Wireless became T-Mobile USA, Inc; under T-Mobile International AG a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. By 2008 T-mobile USA acquired SunCom Wireless Holding, Inc for $2.4billion and in September of that same year, T-Mobile USA and SunCom were integrated, with this integration came an expansion for T-Mobile USA’s network coverage in areas like Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, U.S Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico and of course an additional 1.1 million customers from the acquired SunCom Wireless Holding.
T-Mobile has the licenses to operate Personal Communications Service (PCS), Global Systems for Mobile Communications also known as GSM and the digital cellular network that covers areas like the U.S Virgin Island, Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico. T-mobile also provides coverage through roaming agreement with other network providers in areas where it does not have radio frequency. T-Mobile USA has various types of product and services, some of which are the Even More, Even More Plus, WebConnect Internet, Roaming and Flexpay. Other services include the Pay as you