T-Mobile is the only one of the big four carriers without any 4G network coming in the near future, but news has come out today that suggests that that may change soon. Clearwire revealed today that they are in talks with T-Mobile and may strike a deal that would see the No. 4 carrier providing funding to Clearwire. In return, T-Mo would rent space on Clearwire's WiMAX network at a reduced price. Even if the two companies don't strike a deal, Clearwire's CEO Bill Morrow has said that T-Mobile "could be a wholesale customer.” Clearwire will need new funding by the end of 2011.
This definitely isn't the first, or second, time we've heard the possibility of Sprint (who is the majority owner of Clearwire) and T-Mobile teaming up, and I still feel that the two carriers coming together wouldn't be a bad idea. After all, combining the subscribers from both companies would almost bring them even with Verizon and AT&T, the No. 1 and 2 carriers, respectively. However, Sprint and T-Mobile were to come together, they would need to figure out what to do about the technologies that they currently use and settle on one of them. Still, we're pretty far off from any potential merger at this point. Stay tuned to see what develops!
