AT&T made a surprise announcement Sunday that it plans to acquire T-Mobile USA. But while the announcement at first appeared to lay the groundwork for an imminent arrival of the iPhone to current T-Mobile customers, there may be a much longer lag time than initially anticipated.
Given rampant customer confusion and speculation, T-Mobile was forced to revise its FAQ page Mondya morning to address some of the burning new questions on the minds of current T-Mobile customers.
“T-Mobile USA remains an independent company,” the FAQ reads. “The acquisition is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months. We do not offer the iPhone. We offer cutting edge devices like the Samsung Galaxy S 4G and coming soon our new Sidekick 4G.”
Analysts widely agree that the iPhone may not be available for at least one full year, as the regulatory process for the acquisition will all but certainly prove rigorous and time consuming. It is also possible, in fact, that the acquisition will not be sanctioned by federal regulators.
If the deal is ultimately given the green light, AT&T and T-Mobile will likely encounter few complications merging technologies to bring the iPhone to all 130 million combined users in the AT&T + T-Mobile family.
