T-Mobile is a mobile network operator headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom and belongs to the FreeMove Business alliance.

T-Mobile is a group of mobile phone corporate subsidiaries (all under the ownership of Deutsche Telekom) that operate GSM and UMTS networks in Europe and the United States. The "T" stands for "Telekom." Most subsidiaries of Deutsche Telekom have names beginning with "T-" like T-Home, T-Systems and T-Online. T-Mobile also has financial stakes in mobile operators in Eastern Europe. Globally, T-Mobile has 101 million subscribers, making it the world's sixth largest mobile phone service provider by subscribers and the third largest multinational after the United Kingdom's Vodafone and Spain's Telefonica.

T-Mobile International has a substantial presence in eleven European countries: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and the United Kingdom as well as in the United States.

Deutsche Telekom recently attempted to acquire rival mobile network operator O2, but it was eventually acquired by Spain's Telefonica.

As well as kit sponsors for FC Bayern Munich, Ferencvárosi TC and West Bromwich Albion, and a supporting sponsor of Birmingham City F.C., T-Mobile is also a sponsor of several sports events, some of which carry the company name. For example, it sponsors its own cycling team, the T-Mobile Team, and the Austrian first division football competition, the T-Mobile Bundesliga. It was also the official global mobile phone carrier for the 2006 FIFA World Cup (football) in Germany.

T-Mobile USA is the United States based subsidiary of T-Mobile International AG. The US company was previously known as VoiceStream Wireless or Powertel. In May 2001, VoiceStream was acquired by Deutsche Telekom for US$24 billion, and in September 2002 changed the company name nationally to T-Mobile. Headquartered in Factoria, Bellevue, Washington, T-Mobile USA is currently the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the U.S. market with approximately 27 million customers as of August 2007 and annual revenue of US$17.1 billion.

The US T-Mobile network predominately uses the GSM/GPRS 1900 MHz frequency-band, making it the largest 1900 MHz network in the US. Service is available in 46 of the top 50 US markets, reaching 244 million potential customers. By mid-2008 the network is forecast to expand to 98 of 100 largest markets and 259 million potential customers.

On September 17, 2007 T-Mobile USA announced that it will acquire SunCom Wireless for US$2.4 billion. The acquisition will improve network coverage in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Puerto Rico. At the end of the second quarter of 2007, SunCom had more than 1.1 million customers. The acquisition is subject to governmental and regulatory approvals as well as approval by SunCom shareholders. The companies expect the deal to close in the first half of 2008.

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Sprint Nextel Corporation is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world. With 55 million subscribers, Sprint Nextel operates the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States (based on total wireless customers), behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T. Sprint is a global Tier 1 Internet carrier, and, as such, makes up a portion of the Internet backbone. In the United States, the company also operates the second largest wireless broadband network and is the third largest long distance provider.

The company was created in 2005 by the $35 billion purchase of NEXTEL Communications by Sprint Corporation. In 2006, the company spun off its local landline telephone business, naming it Embarq and also completed the $6.5 billion acquisition of Nextel Partners, one of its largest affiliates, which primarily provides Nextel wireless services to more rural markets.

Sprint Nextel has its executive headquarters in Reston, Virginia and maintains an operational and engineering headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas (where the largest number of Sprint Nextel employees are based). Both internally and externally, "Sprint" is an acceptable short name for the company; however, all "walkie-talkie" phones currently being shipped are still branded with the Nextel logo and graphics.

On December 15, 2004, Sprint and NEXTEL announced they would merge to form Sprint Nextel Corporation. While billed as a merger of equals, the transaction was actually the purchase of NEXTEL Communications by Sprint Corporation. At the time of the merger announcement Sprint and NEXTEL were the No. 3 and No. 5 leading providers in the US mobile phone industry.

Sprint shareholders overwhelmingly approved the merger on July 13, 2005. The merger deal was approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and U.S. Department of Justice on August 3, 2005. The FCC placed a condition on the merger that Sprint Nextel is to provide wireless service within the 2.5 GHz band within the next four years. Sprint Nextel was officially formed on August 12, 2005, when the deal was completed.

Sprint and NEXTEL both faced opposition to the merger, mostly from regional affiliates that provide wireless services on behalf of the companies. These regional affiliates felt that the new company would be violating non-compete agreements that the former companies had made with the affiliates.

Nextel is known for its free incoming call plan. However, since the merger Nextel Customers are now able to convert their plans to the Sprint side, and Sprint Customers can convert their accounts to the Nextel side. Both changes would require purchasing new phone equipment; however, Sprint Nextel may buy back fairly new but used cell phones for up to $50.

On September 1, 2005, Sprint Nextel combined plan offerings of its Sprint PCS and Nextel brands to bring more uniformity across the company's offerings.

Popular features from each side have been incorporated into the other - Sprint now offers Free Incoming plans, and Nextel did for a time offer Fair & Flexible plans, but both Sprint and Nextel have since replaced those with the newer Power Pack plans (Both family and individual plans are available). This changed the overage fees to a set per minute charge ranging from $0.25 to $0.45, rather than buying 'buckets' of minutes like the Fair & Flexible plans. This move was likely the result of Sprint seeking to reduce voluntary customer churn by matching the plans offered by Cingular and Verizon, which have almost identical plan rates to the Power Pack plans offered by Sprint. In March and April 2007, Sprint offered to many existing customers whose initial contract obligations had expired discounts in return for signing new two-year contracts, in another apparent effort to reduce customer churn (especially since there have been some customer service glitches surrounding the merger).

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Cellco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, owns and operates the second largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, based on total wireless customers. Based on revenue, Verizon Wireless is the largest American wireless company and largest wireless data provider. As of October 2007, the company served a total of 63.7 million U.S. subscribers and had an annual revenue of $38 billion. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, the company is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group, with 55 and 45 percent ownership respectively.

Verizon Wireless traces its roots to Bell Atlantic Mobile, NYNEX Mobile Communications, AirTouch Communications, PrimeCo Communications, and GTE Mobilnet. Bell Atlantic Mobile and NYNEX Mobile Communications merged in 1995 to create Bell Atlantic-NYNEX Mobile, and in 1997 their namesake Baby Bell parents followed suit to form the new Bell Atlantic and their wireless subsidiary was renamed Bell Atlantic Mobile. Bell Atlantic Mobile and NYNEX Mobile Communications was created from Advanced Mobile Phone Service, Inc., which was a subsidiary of AT&T created in 1978 to provide cellular service nationwide. AMPS, Inc. was divided among the RBOCs as part of the Bell System Divestiture.

Meanwhile, in June 1999, AirTouch Communications of San Francisco, California merged with UK-based Vodafone Group Plc, forming Vodafone AirTouch Plc. In September 1999, Vodafone AirTouch announced a $90-billion joint venture with Bell Atlantic Corp. to be called Verizon Wireless, and which would be comprised of the two companies' U.S. wireless assets: Bell Atlantic Mobile and AirTouch Paging. This wireless joint venture received regulatory approval in six months, and began operations as Verizon Wireless on April 4, 2000. On June 30, 2000, the addition of GTE Wireless' assets, in connection with the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE to form Verizon Communications, made Verizon Wireless the nation's largest wireless communications provider (until Cingular's acquisition of AT&T Wireless in 2004). For the joint venture, Verizon Communications owns 55% and UK-based Vodafone Group (formerly Vodafone AirTouch) owns 45%.

The name "Verizon," a portmanteau, is derived by combining the word "veritas," a Latin term that means "truth," and the word "horizon." Together, they are supposed to conjure images of reliability, certainty, leadership, and limitless possibilities.

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AT&T Inc. was founded in 1983 as Southwestern Bell Corporation, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. It was one of the seven original Regional Bell Operating Companies, or "Baby Bells." The company — a holding company for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company — was created as a result of U.S. antitrust action against American Telephone & Telegraph Company in 1983. It took full control of Southwestern Bell Telephone on January 1, 1984.

In 1993, Southwestern Bell Corp. moved its headquarters to San Antonio, Texas, and, during its annual meeting of stockholders in 1995, the company announced that its name would be changed to SBC Communications, Inc. The name change was an effort to reinforce the company's national and global reach and the company not only stated that "SBC" wasn't an acronym for Southwestern Bell Corporation, but that it did not stand for anything at all.
SBC corporate logo, 1997–2001
SBC corporate logo, 1997–2001

SBC then proceeded (as permitted by the Telecommunications Act of 1996) to acquire fellow Baby Bell Pacific Telesis, the Regional Bell operating company serving Nevada and California, in 1997 and the former independent Bell System franchise SNET (Southern New England Telephone).

SBC then announced plans to acquire Ameritech, the Regional Bell operating company serving Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin, and told the FCC that it would allow competitors access to local markets where it had had a monopoly if the FCC would allow them to acquire Ameritech. The FCC agreed and in May 1998, SBC and Ameritech announced the merger would move forward. After making several organizational changes (such as the sale of Ameritech Wireless to GTE) to satisfy state and Federal regulators, the two merged on October 8, 1999. The FCC later fined SBC Communications $6 million for failure to comply with agreements made in order to secure approval of the merger.

On November 1, 1999, SBC became a part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

AT&T Inc. is the largest provider of both local and long distance telephone services, wireless service, and DSL Internet access in the United States. AT&T is based in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Formerly SBC Communications, Inc., the company shed its name and took on the iconic AT&T moniker and the T stock-trading symbol (for "telephone") after its acquisition of American Telephone & Telegraph Company (later known as AT&T Corporation).

Since the break-up of AT&T Corp. in 1984, most of the companies spun off from it (the "Baby Bells") have merged into three major US telecommunications groups: Verizon, Qwest, and AT&T Inc. Most of these companies are made up primarily of former components of AT&T Corp. For the new AT&T, these include many Bell Operating Companies and the long distance division.

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With a market cap of $24.79 billion and over 12 million customers as of early 2006, Alltel is the largest regional mobile phone company in America, and the fifth largest mobile phone company overall. The wireless group provides service in parts of 35 states. The company mainly focuses on small to medium-sized cities, but has low-cost roaming agreements with the major national CDMA carriers, especially Verizon Wireless and Sprint-Nextel, in order to provide national service. Reciprocal agreements in turn provide those carriers with coverage in rural areas. When Alltel acquired Western Wireless in 2005, it gained a large GSM footprint as well. While it does not offer GSM service to its own customers, Alltel has indicated that it will continue to maintain the GSM footprint (and perhaps even expand it) to provide roaming service to GSM users of other wireless carriers; however, one exception is that as of April 1, 2007, Alltel no longer maintains the GSM footprint in the coverage area it acquired from First Cellular of Southern Illinois. It offered previous GSM customers in the affected area to sign a new agreement with Alltel, requiring affected customers to purchase a new CDMA phone. Alltel advertises itself as "owner and operator of the nation's largest wireless network"; this claim refers to geographical coverage (total square miles covered) of its owned, "native", network rather than number of Alltel customers, population covered, or coverage with roaming agreements.
Alltel's old logo (prior to 2006).
Alltel's old logo (prior to 2006).

In 2006, Alltel added 640,000 net customers through internal growth, an 87 percent increase. Post-pay churn was 1.57 percent and total churn was 2 percent, both improved from the previous year. The company also acquired more than 500,000 customers through the purchases of Midwest Wireless, First Cellular of Southern Illinois, Virginia Cellular and Cellular One in Amarillo, Texas.

ALLTEL Corporation (NYSE: AT) is an American telecommunications company with headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas. Alltel provides wireless services to residential and business customers in 35 states. States with no Alltel service whatsoever include: Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the district of Washington, D.C.

On May 20, 2007, Alltel agreed to be bought out by TPG Capital, L.P. and Goldman Sachs for $27.5B.

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