One of what should be the most protracted merger deals in the tech industry has finally come to a conclusion. That is T-Mobile and Sprint’s merger deal. The merger was first announced around April 2018 and has met several obstacles on the way which has prevented a deal from getting sealed all this while. 

It took almost two years after T-Mobile US officially announced its merger with Sprint as well a several hearing and legal negotiations with US regulators to get to this point. The deal worth $23 billion will result in a collaboration of the third and fourth-largest wireless carrier in the US in terms of subscriber base, forming a new company known as “The New T-Mobile”.

EDITOR’S PICK: Xiaomi’s Aqara officially unveils its range of smart home products in the US

The entities will equally join forces in terms of infrastructures to take on AT&T and Verizon Wireless the top 2 carriers in the US. Sprint’s spectrum and subscribers will be transitioned to T-Mobile. Sprint possesses a precious 2.5GHz mid-band spectrum which is ideal for 5G. The new T-Mobile will deploy this spectrum alongside T-Mobile’s own low-band 5G (600Mhz) for a nationwide rollout. T-Mobile says it will offer eight times faster speeds compared to LTE and expects the speeds to get up to 15 times faster over the next six years. T-Mobile also plans on using the mid-bands to cover Americans in rural areas.

As part of a deal made with US regulators, Sprint will sell its prepaid assets including Boost Mobile, its 9.3 million subscribers, more than 7000 retail stores, and its 800Mhz band spectrum to Dish Network, creating a new #4 carrier in the US. Dish will maintain these subscribers on T-Mobile’s networks as an MVNO under a seven-year lease while it develops and rolls out its own 5G network. Boost Mobile will be transitioned under the Dish Network brand. The new T-Mobile promise not to change its pricing for three years even with 5G offering.

As a result of the merger deal, T-Mobile’s CEO John Legere has stepped down earlier than the April 30 expiration date of his contract. The company’s President and COO, Mike Sievert has now stepped in as the new CEO of “The New T-Mobile”. Legere will remain as one of T-Mobile’s new board of directors. Legere assumed the position of T-Mobile’s CEO in 2012 and oversaw several massive growth with the company going from 33.3 million subscribers at the end of the third quarter of 2012 to 86 million customers at the end of the fourth quarter of 2019.

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(source)

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Almost one year after US carriers T-Mobile and Sprint agreed to a merger, the deal is still facing several hurdles in the U.S.  Earlier on, there were reports that the merger’s approval by the US authority may be hinged on the two parent companies Deutsche Telekom AG (T-Mobile’s parent company) and SoftBank Group Corp (Sprint’s parent company) ditching Huawei’s technology globally. While that may have been agreed upon, there are reports that the deal may still get blocked by some US states.

Bloomberg reports that the attorney generals of several states are worried about the effect the merger would have on competition. The report specifically mentioned California and New York as states that are leading a group of over a dozen states that would file a lawsuit if the Department of Justice does not challenge the deal. The reports quoted unnamed sources of hinting that state enforcers have the power to go to court to block the tie-up even if federal officials at the Justice Department and the FCC approve it. Company representatives on both sides are yet to comment on the matter, but in the meantime, shares fell around 1% after the announcement.

Read Also: T-Mobile and Sprint merger deal approval reportedly hinged on ditching Huawei’s technology

T-Mobile initially offered $26.5 billion to acquire Sprint and all its market presence. This would make the company a major challenger to AT&T and Verizon’s dominance in the United States. The deal will potentially see the new conglomerate controlling over 30% of the US wireless market, with an even higher share in some states.

(source)

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Irrespective of going through a bad phase in the mobile device market, the Taiwanese manufacturer is actively working on 5G devices. Recently at MWC 2019, HTC has launched a new 5G Hub tablet device which will act as a 5G modem. The new 5G technology is in its initial stages of deployment, and even compatible devices have just started appearing in the market. The HTC 5G hub is the latest to join the 5G compatible devices list.

HTC 5G Hub Specs

The HTC 5G Hub is a tablet device which carries a 5-inch display and runs on Android. It can act as a router to give blazing fast 5G speeds to connected devices. The device itself is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset coupled with X50 modem. Its modem is capable of offering download speeds of 2.3 Gbps. The Hub runs on Android 9 Pie and UI is specially designed to act as a hub. As of now, it’s unclear that it has Play Store access or not. It comes with 4GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage. There’s an ethernet port also to connect any device via it.

Further, it will allow devices to download movies, watch 4K videos and play online games concurrently. To keep running for longer times, the HTC 5G Hub carries a 7660 battery. It can efficiently work continuously for a day if you’re using it at optimum levels with two-three devices connected. Although, it’s unclear on how much battery backup time it can give, as there’s no real-world 5G network available to test it.

Moreover, the device can act as a charger for your phone too. There are multiple claims regarding the device from the company side. First, it will provide 5G connectivity across 4G compatible devices. Secondly, the company claims that it is “at the forefront of cloud-based virtual reality (VR) technology, because “users will be able to stream VR content from the cloud to a VIVE Focus headset via the HTC 5G Hub.”

• Read More: LG V50 ThinQ 5G phone with Snapdragon 855 and five cameras is official

Currently, it will be available exclusively from Sprint stores in the United States. Further, HTC has plans to sell it in European nations such as Germany, Switzerland, Finland and others. The telecom providers such as Telstra Three UK, Deutsche Telekom, Sunrise and Elise would be partnering with HTC to launch it in respective markets.

It will be made available by Q2 2019.

(Source)

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LG will announce at least two new phones at MWC 2019. There is the LG G8 ThinQ which already leaked a few weeks ago and there is the LG V50 ThinQ which will be its first 5G smartphone. A leaked render has revealed what the V50 ThinQ looks like.

The render was shared on Twitter by Evan Blass (@evleaks) early this morning. The LG V50 ThinQ appears to have a much bigger and wider display than the G8 ThinQ. However, it also has a notch although the wallpaper does a good job at hiding it. We can make out two front-facing cameras and what appears to be a face unlock module.

The wallpaper also does a good job of hiding the thickness of the chin. There is no visible slit for the speaker, so we presume the V50 ThinQ will also come with the G8 ThinQ’s Crystal Sound OLED technology which uses the display to pump out audio.

On the rear, the LG V50 ThinQ has a triple camera setup. We think it is three but we won’t be surprised if there is a fourth sensor as the front of the phone overlaps over the rear. That covered space seems large enough to fit another camera. The sensors are arranged horizontally along with the LED flash. There is a fingerprint sensor below the cameras and the phone’s name a few mm below. LG’s logo in silver sits at the bottom of the phone and a yellow 5G logo is positioned at the top.

The phone has its power button on the right while the volume rocker and Google Assistant button sit on the left. We can’t see the bottom of the phone but it most likely houses the USB type-C port, speaker, and 3.5mm audio jack.

The press render does more than show us what the phone looks like. It also reveals the launch date of the phone. The time says 9:00 AM and the date is Sunday, February 24, which is next weekend. Although MWC doesn’t officially start until the 25th, a couple of manufacturers will announce their new phones a day before. HMD Global is one of the manufacturers that have scheduled a launch event for February 24. The Finnish company will announce the Nokia 9 PureView flagship on that day and we think LG will unveil the G8 ThinQ and V50 ThinQ on the same day too.

READ MORE: LG Q9 One with SD835, Android Pie launched as the second rebranding of the G7 One

The LG V50 ThinQ will be powered by the Snapdragon 855 processor. It will be exclusive to Sprint in the US.

(Source)

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The new era technologies are taking over the old ones with better features and safety nets. The latest 5G technology is still evolving, and every major manufacturer and service provider is looking to get their hands on first. It has even lead to some false claims in the market, which are misleading the end consumers. Similarly, two United States carriers are fighting over a similar instance. A major telecom carrier in the US has sued another telecom carrier for calling their advanced 4G LTE network as “5G Evolution”.

In detail, Sprint took the above instance seriously and went ahead to file a lawsuit against AT&T. It has filed a lawsuit to ban the use of “5GE” term on the customers’ devices. Even, they are also seeking an injunction to prevent the use of “5GE” tags while advertising and marketing.

Sprint said that AT&T is labeling an advanced 5G LTE (Long Term Evolution) as 5G and deceiving customers. In a lawsuit of 23 pages filed at federal court in New York, Sprint claims that “AT&T has employed numerous deceptive tactics to mislead consumers into believing that it currently offers a coveted and highly anticipated fifth-generation wireless network, known as 5G. What AT&T touts as 5G, however, is nothing more than an enhanced fourth-generation Long Term Evolution wireless service, known as 4G LTE Advanced, which is offered by all other major wireless carriers.”

Sprint consolidated it stand by saying that they have invested a lot of capital in building 5G network in nine cities this year. Even though AT&T is also working on to develop the 5G network across States but the marketing and advertisement practices they have adopted are wrong. They are wrongly using the 5GE term to label the advanced 4G LTE network leading an unfair advantage over other carriers. They emphasized that 5G networks will be 10-40 times faster than the current 4G LTE advanced networks. AT&T is deceiving the customers to make them believe the old networks as 5G.

In response, AT&T said that they are not deceiving anyone and would fight the lawsuit. They are terming 5GE network as “an evolutionary step to standards-based 5G.” AT&T further said “We understand why our competitors don’t like what we are doing, but our customers love it,” 

• Read More: T-Mobile and Sprint merger deal approval reportedly hinged on ditching Huawei’s technology

It made us go back into the initial launch days of 4G when similar issues were seen between AT&T and T-Mobile. Although, we believe the court will bring justice to what is right.

Share your thoughts on the whole scenario via the comments form below.

(Via)

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The long-awaited proposed merger between U.S. carriers T-Mobile and Sprint may finally obtain regulatory authorization as early as the coming week. The government regulatory bodies involved with authorizing the merger, agree that it can move forward, this is according to a new report from Reuters. However, the approval might hinge on an unexpected requirement: that Deutsche Telekom AG (T-Mobile’s parent company) and SoftBank Group Corp (Sprint’s parent company) fail to use Huawei equipment in their respective worldwide networks.

According to Reuters, both parent companies reported that they are “considering” complying to the requirement to get the deal to go through. At the moment, neither Sprint or T-Mobile use Huawei network equipment in the United States. Nevertheless, both SoftBank and Deutsche Telekom use Huawei equipment for their networks respectively everywhere in the world. The approval of the T-Mobile-Sprint merger would make both companies to slowly phase out Huawei equipment currently in use and refuse to buy Huawei equipment going forward.

Related: Two of the Four Major U.S Carriers, T-Mobile & Sprint Seal Mega-Merger Deal

The source for this Reuters report says that Deutsche Telekom has been pressured by U.S. government officials in particular, to stop using Huawei equipment, mentioning security concerns related to Huawei’s alleged ties to the Chinese government. Huawei has repeatedly stated that these security concerns are invalid. However, several countries — including the U.S., Australia, and Japan has refused to use Huawei equipment for all or some of its networking purposes. If the T-Mobile-Sprint merger approval becomes successful, it would cut the “Big Four” carriers down to the “Big Three,” with the other remaining U.S. carriers being AT&T and Verizon. The combined T-Mobile-Sprint company would simply be called T-Mobile.

(source)

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Sprint and T-Mobile have jointly announced a mega-merger agreement which is valued at $146 billion, including liabilities. The announcement was made on Sunday and reflects both company’s desire to catch up with rival operators AT&T and Verizon. AT&T and T-Mobile both provide service using the GSM standard while Verizon and Sprint primarily use CDMA. All four also operate networks using LTE standard for their 4G services.

However, both Sprint and T-Mobile have reportedly lagged behind Verizon and AT&T who are the two largest wireless companies. The proposed deal is an all-stock deal which values Sprint at about $59 billion and the combined company at $146 billion, including debt. Without debt, the combined company is valued at $26.5 billion, showing how heavily indebted both companies are.

I’m excited to announce that @TMobile & @Sprint
have reached an agreement to come together to form a new company – a larger, stronger competitor that will be a force for positive change for all US consumers and businesses! Watch this & click through for details.

— John Legere (@JohnLegere) April 29, 2018

Read Also: Lenovo Watch 9 Hybrid Smartwatch Unveiled, Priced At 129 Yuan (~ $20)

The new company will be called T-Mobile and will retain the two headquarters at Bellevue, Washington and Overland Park, Kansas. T-Mobile’s current CEO John Legere will retain the top job in the newly formed carrier while SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son had to give up control of his company to make the merger happen. The deal isn’t a done deal, though, as it still has to face scrutiny from regulatory authorities in the U.S. If approved, the combined T-Mobile would have an estimated 120 million subscribers and would be in a good stead to take on Verizon and AT&T. Both merger also promises 5G technology in the near future.

(source)

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The Snapdragon X50 5G NR modem has been designed by Qualcomm to support 5G networks. Today, Qualcomm has confirmed that at least 18 different smartphone manufacturing companies will be launching Snapdragon X50 5G modem enabled smartphones. Moreover, the U.S.-based chip maker has confirmed that various telecom service providers from across the world will be starting the trail run of 5G networks soon.

The Snapdragon X50 5G NR (New Radio) mobile modem chipset can attain download speeds of several gigabits. In October 2017, Qualcomm had unveiled the new 5G modem and confirmed that it would be commercially available during the first half of 2019. Now that Qualcomm has released press releases for the carriers and smartphone manufacturers that will be supporting and releasing 5G smartphones featuring Snapdragon X50 modem, it seems that the company is well on track of fulfilling the promise of making 5G phones available in 2019.

The smartphone OEMs that are working with Qualcomm to launch phones with Snapdragon X50 5G modem next year are Asus, Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu Connected Technologies Limited, HMD Global (Nokia), HTC, Inseego/Novatel Wireless, LG, NetComm Wireless, NETGEAR, OPPO, Sharp Corporation, Sierra Wireless, Sony Mobile, Telit, vivo, Wingtech, WNC, Xiaomi and ZTE.

Two of the major smartphone manufacturing companies namely, Apple and Huawei are missing from the list. Samsung has signed a separate cross-license partnership with Qualcomm recently which may also include plans to launch 5G enabled Samsung phones soon. Lenovo too is absent from the list.

The list of select global mobile operators that will conducing live and OTA mobile 5G NR trials include AT&T, British Telecom, China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, KDDI, KT Corporation, LG Uplus, NTT DOCOMO, Orange, Singtel, SK Telecom, Sprint, Telstra, TIM, Verizon and Vodafone Group.

Read More: Gizmochina Explains: 5G Network Standard

Which smartphone company will be releasing the first 5G smartphone next year? OPPO CEO Tony Chen had confirmed in the previous month that it will be among the first manufacturers to release a 5G smartphone. ZTE CEO Lixin Cheng has recently claimed that a 5G ZTE phone would be launching at the end of 2018 or early 2019. Two months ago, Huawei CEO Yu Richard said that a 5G Huawei smartphone would be releasing in the second half of 2019.

5G smartphones featuring Snapdragon X50 will allow users to connect to public Wi-Fi without login. Such phones will offer ultrafast downloads, high-speed internet browsing, topnotch quality video and voice calls, lag free streaming of 360-degreee video and instant cloud access. Qualcomm will be also bringing 5G connectivity on other devices like Always Connected PCs, VR and AR.

(source 1, 2)

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Check out our Galaxy S8 hands-on video from the launch event:

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ phones are now available on pre-orders with color options like Midnight Black, Orchid Gray and Arctic Silver in the U.S. Customers who pre-order the S8 or S8+ can avail a free Gear VR with Controller as well as Oculus Bonus Content.  Pre-orders across AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint and US Cellular will begin on March 30 at 12:01 AM ET and last until April 21.

Unlocked Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+

The unlocked Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ would be available for purchase through Best Buy in the U.S. with a respective pricing of $724.99 and $824.99. The unlocked models are cheaper than carrier counterparts. The shipments of the unlocked units will begin from May 9.

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AT&T

Galaxy S8 full retail price – $750, Availability at AT&T Stores – April 24

• AT&T Next – $25 monthly payments for 30 months
• AT&T Next Every Year – $31.25 monthly payments for 24 months.

Galaxy S8+ full retail price – $850, Availability at AT&T Stores – April 21

• AT&T Next – $28.34 monthly payments for 30 months
• AT&T Next Every Year – $35.42 monthly payments for 24 months.

Promotional Offers:

Apart from the usual freebies like Gear VR with Controller as well as Oculus Bonus Content, the following promotional offers are available with AT&T:

• $750 as credits for another Galaxy S8 or S8+
• $49 for Samsung Gear S3 with two-year service agreement
• 99 cents for Samsung Tab E or Samsung Gear S2 with two-year service agreement.

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T-Mobile

Galaxy S8 full retail price – $750, Availability at T-Mobile stores – April 21

• $30 down payment, $30 monthly payments for 24 months
• Jump on Demand – $0 down payment, $31.25 monthly payments for 24 months.

Galaxy S8+ full retail price – $850, Availability at T-Mobile stores – April 21

• $130 down payment, $30 monthly payments for 24 months
• Jump on Demand – $130 down payment, $30 monthly payments for 24 months.

Promotional Offers:

Apart from Gear VR with Controller and Oculus Bonus Content freebies, customers who pre-order at T-Mobile store s will get a DeX desktop docking station for free.

[envira-gallery id="124816"]

Verizon

Galaxy S8 full retail price – $720, Availability at Verizon stores – April 21

• $30 monthly payments for 24 months

Galaxy S8+ full retail price – $840, Availability at Verizon stores – April 21

• $35 monthly payments for 24 months

Promotional Offers:

Apart from the usual pre-order freebies, users can spend $99 more for Experience Box that consists of Gear VR with Controller, Hardon Kardon earphones and 256 GB microSD card from Samsung.

[envira-gallery id="124817"]

Sprint

Galaxy S8 full retail price – $744, Availability at Sprint stores – April 21

• 18 months lease plan with $25 down payment and $29.62 monthly payments
• $31.25 monthly payments for 24 months.

Galaxy S8+ full retail price – $844, Availability at T-Mobile stores – April 21

1. 18 months lease plan with $25 down payment and $33.78 monthly payments
2. $35.42 monthly payments for 24 months.

Promotion Offers:

Besides the Gear VR and Oculus bundle, Sprint is also providing another offer for $99 which includes Gear VR with Controller, Hardon Kardon earphones and 256 GB microSD card from Samsung.

[envira-gallery id="124818"]

US Cellular

US Cellular has not announced the full retail pricing of Galaxy S8 and S8+. It is an offering an trade-in offer that allows customers to either trade an eligible smartphone (iPhone 5S or later; Galaxy S6 or later) to avail the Galaxy S8 for free whereas the S8 will come for $3.64 monthly payments for 30 months. If there is no phone available for the trade-in offer, the carrier will provide $100 promotional gift card. However, customers need to avail Total Plan or Shared Connect plan and also subscribe for Device Protection + program.

Galaxy S8, S8+ UK Pre-orders, Pricing

In the U.K, the pre-orders have started from March 29 until April 19 on the official UK website of Samsung and operators like Carphone Warehouse, EE, Sky Mobile and Tesco Mobile. The Galaxy S8 and S8+ phones will be respectively available for £689 and £779 and will come in color options like Midnight Black and Orchid Grey. The Arctic Silver color be made available soon.

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HTC has today officially announced its latest smartphone reputed to feature a super fast download speed which makes it adopt the name- HTC Bolt. The Bolt, which was unveiled in the US, is exclusive to US carrier Sprint and is touted as the fastest smartphone on Sprint’s network. To give the Bolt’s fast download an iconic outlook, the smartphone  has the endorsement of Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man.

The HTC Bolt looks a lot like last years HTC 10, adopting the same design with a little modifications here and there. The Bolt features a full-metal unibody which said to be water resistant, HTC’s first device to have such capability. The smartphone also does not have the 3.5mm audio jack, instead packing a USB Type-C headphone that can adapt their sound to your specific hearing.

The HTC Bolt features a slightly larger 5.5-inc quad HD display, making it a little bigger than the HTC 10. The device is powered by the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC as found on the HTC 10 as well as packs 3GB of RAM on-board, instead of a higher and more modern Snapdragon 820 chipset and 4GB RAM. The device also features a 3,200mAh battery with support for Qualcomm’s Quck Charge 2.0 fast charging.

On the camera end, the HTC Bolt sports a 16MP (non-Ultra Pixel) rear camera with LED flash and Optical image stabilization, as well as an 8MP front-facing camera. There is also a front fingerprint sensor as well as capacitive buttons. The HTC Bolt has an IP57 water resistance capability which lets the device survive submersion in 1m depth of water fro up to 30 minutes. Also, the Bolt is already certified for Sprint’s 3×20 carrier aggregation. In addition, the Bolt runs on Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box, making it the first HTC smartphone to run Google’s latest Android platform.

Read More: Leaked Photos Reveal HTC Smartwatch, Project Rumored To be Shelved

Pricing

As for the price, the Bolt doesn’t come cheap as the device is available starting today for $600 (around 4,088 Yuan). An outrageously expensive amount for such specs, I’d say. What do you think?

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