T-Mobile announced today that it will be purchasing SunCom Wireless for an estimated $1.6 billion. The deal, expected to close in 2008, allows T-Mobile to take on about $800 million in debt that SunCom has resting on its shoulders. Never heard of SunCom? That’s because it’s a small wireless company that operates in a few southeastern states. If all the telecom giants like AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile keep buying out the little guys though, soon we’ll have fewer and fewer options for our cellphones.
D. Telekom Buys SunCom [Reuters]
This is unfortunate as SunCom had a decent unlimited plan and T-Mobile doesn’t care about making its customers financially responsible for incoming spam text messages. T-Mobile is the only one that stands to gain from their text messaging policies. You either have to pay them for unlimited messaging or pay for all the unwanted spam on a message by message basis. If you’re not happy with those options, they’re happy enough to take your early concellation fee so you can take your business elsewhere.