AT&T Attempt to Buy T-Mobile Could Be Over

UPDATE: It's official, this deal is now dead. More details are available in this article:

AT&T Throws in the Towel, Not Buying T-Mobile

AT&T may be close to giving up its efforts to acquire its smaller rival T-Mobile. The two companies have been scrambling to respond to opposition from the U.S. government, but the deal is looking increasingly unlikely.

An attempt by the second largest U.S. carrier to buy the fourth largest has made headlines since it was announced in the spring, but in recent months, all the news has been bad for the parties involved. In August, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit to prevent this deal from going forward, and last month, the two withdrew their request from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Since that time, AT&T and T-Mobile's parent company Deutsche Telekom have been trying to come up with options that might answer the DOJ's complaints -- the government agency says the deal will hurt competition in the wireless industry, resulting in higher prices for consumers and lost jobs as AT&T would lay off redundant employees.

What's Next?
Among the possibilities that have been discussed are selling a large chunk of T-Mobile to either Leap Wireless or Dish Network. However, talks on these deals have reportedly broken down, according to a report in the WSJ. 

AT&T and Deutsche Telekom are expected to make some kind of announcement by the end of year. Exactly what that will be is unknown at this point. Unconfirmed reports have said that one possibility is a joint venture, in which these carriers remain separate entities, but run their networks and operations together.

What all this means for T-Mobile long term is not yet clear. Deutsche Telekom has made it clear that it regards this company as a money pit. The German telecom intends to take the $3 billion in cash AT&T will owe it if the deal falls through and invest the money in its European network, but T-Mobile USA will get about $1 billion worth of new spectrum.

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