Citing a Merrill Lynch financial analyst, Fortune is reporting that T-Mobile USA could be in the verge of announcing plans to carry Apple’s iPhone as early as next week.
The Fortune story cites a report from Merrill Lynch’s Scott Craig that “speculation is heightening” that T-Mobile USA parent company Deutsche Telekom is set to announce the Apple deal during DT’s analyst conference next week.
T-Mobile USA is currently the lone nationwide domestic operator not offering Apple’s iconic devices. That inability has been due to a number of factors, including an initial exclusivity agreement between Apple and AT&T Mobility that ended in early 2011, and more recently to incompatibility between iPhones and T-Mobile USA’s network technology and spectrum.
The technology issue is set to change, however, as T-Mobile USA is in the midst of re-arranging its network so that will support the current iPhone models available across AT&T Mobility. That network re-shuffling includes T-Mobile USA migrating its HSPA-based 3G services to the 1.9 GHz spectrum band that currently supports the carrier’s legacy GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS services, while freeing up the 1.7/2.1 GHz spectrum band currently supporting the HSPA services for its LTE rollout. T-Mobile USA recently noted it planned to have 15 markets converted to HSPA using the 1.9 GHz band by the end of the year, and to begin rolling out LTE services by mid-2013. Those LTE services are expected to receive a boost from MetroPCS, which T-Mobile USA is looking to acquire.
That move will in turn allow the current iPhone models that support GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSPA services across the 1.9 GHz band used by AT&T Mobility to work on T-Mobile USA’s network, as well as the Band Class 4 LTE support inside of the iPhone 5 to work on T-Mobile USA’s LTE network.
T-Mobile USA has been hankering for the customer draw that comes with offering Apple’s devices. That lust has increased in recent months as the carrier has rolled out a program to attract unlocked iPhones to its network.
T-Mobile USA’s desire to begin offering Apple’s iPhone devices is fueled by its continued struggles to attract postpaid customers. The carrier reported the loss of 492,000 contract customers during the third quarter, which it attributed to the launch of the latest iPhone model by its larger rivals. T-Mobile USA has tried to attract customers with a broad offering of smartphones powered by Google’s Android OS, but so far those efforts have fallen short. Currently, only Sprint Nextel’s Virgin Mobile USA brand and Leap Wireless’ Cricket offering provide customers with a no-contract version of Apple’s devices, with the remaining operators tying the smartphone to a long-term contract.
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