Despite his company’s failed merger with AT&T, T-Mobile CEO John Legere has always maintained that consolidation in the wireless industry is inevitable. “In five years, we will think it comical that we thought about the industry structure as the four major wireless carriers,” he said during today’s T-Mobile quarterly earnings call. But for the first time, Legere expanded on his thinking and raised some interesting — and perhaps controversial — possibilities for the future. “I’ve always said it’s not a matter of if; it’s when and how. And now I’m going to add and who.”
John Legere implies T-Mobile could someday merge with a cable company
T-Mobile’s CEO says there are ‘partnerships waiting to happen’
T-Mobile’s CEO says there are ‘partnerships waiting to happen’
As it turns out, that “who” could take the form of an existing cable provider. “As content and entertainment and social are moving to the internet, and the internet is moving mobile, these industries, the adjacent industries, are in the same game that we’re in,” Legere said. “So whether it’s what you see Google doing, what you see the social media companies doing, or as you start to see cable players trying to move content — Wi-Fi integration with mobile networks, et cetera — these are individual customers that are looking at both offer sets. I think you need to think about the cable industry and players like us as not competitors, but potential partners and alternatives for each other in the future.”
"You need to think about the cable industry and players like us as not competitors, but potential partners and alternatives for each other in the future."
Such a pairing is by no means unprecedented; AT&T is currently locked in an attempt to buy DirecTV, a deal that both sides undoubtedly hope will prove more successful than Comcast’s doomed bid for Time Warner Cable.
To be clear, Legere didn’t make any deal sound imminent. He didn’t forecast how soon this type of partnership might arrive, nor did he name any specific companies that would be an ideal fit for T-Mobile. (Dish holds plenty of useful spectrum.) But even as the Uncarrier continues its strong growth, its CEO is clearly looking out long into the future. “There’s a far more broad set of potential partnerships, integrations, and mergers that the United States could be looking at. And in that case, I think you will see consolidation of a much broader set.” Legere’s response to the consolidation question comes at around the 1:22:22 mark of the earnings call.
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