In what Mashable correctly called a stunning move, AT&T has acquired T-Mobile USA for $39 billion from Deutsche Telekom.   It’s a great brand move for AT&T… As a T-Mobile subscriber, I’m not particularly excited about inheriting AT&T’s mess. From AT&T’s point of view, if they can get regulatory approval, this is a HUGE win.  Here’s why.

It looks like AT&T comes out the other side of this with the largest subscriber base in the U.S., but MORE IMPORTANTLY, jumps ahead 5 years in network expansion.  They will quickly benefit from T-Mobile’s tower network. They will also be in a much stronger position for mobile broadband growth going forward.

I left AT&T years ago due to poor network coverage. I experienced dropped calls all the time.  It caused me so much frustration that I finally felt enough pain to make the move to another provider.  I initially went to Verizon, but then T-Mobile won me over.  I’ve been with T-Mobile now for many years. Even with the temptation of the iPhone, I would never have gone back to AT&T.  I’m not alone.  That’s why the Verizon iPhone debut was such a big deal.  Now AT&T just bought me back.  I’m not super excited about that.  I’ll be interested to see how this affects me going forward.

So now that AT&T may be able to get their technology problems under control, it will be VERY interesting to see how they navigate the long branding road back in an attempt to rebuild their reputation and win back consumers.  What are your thoughts?   Do you think they’ll win people back, or do they have to work hard to gain the newbies with the latest new technologies?