T-mobile, Verizon | featured news

T-Mobile USA, which just had its acquisition by AT&T blocked by regulators, is now urging the federal government to block another deal in the wireless world: Verizon's planned purchase spectrum from cable companies for $3.6 billion.

Looking at AT&T and its planned acquisition, it’s fair to suggest that it could not attract the financing necessary to complete the purchase if its plan was to raise prices. Not only would such a move be unrealistic given the existence of Verizon and other smaller competitors, it would also be self-defeating for high prices signaling to those outside the mobile-phone space a potentially profitable competitive opportunity.

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, speaking at the CTIA trade show, said he's concerned AT&T's plan to take over rival T-Mobile USA would stifle innovation and hurt consumers. The chief of Verizon Wireless said he isn't interested in buying Sprint.

Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile formed a joint venture to allow their customers to pay for goods and services with their cellphones. Google's CEO said the next version of Android would allow phones to work as digital wallets.

iPad watch out: Samsung is gunning to take over the tablet market. The company announced during a press conference late Thursday that the recently announced Galaxy Tab would be launching on all four major US cellular networks—Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile—and a WiFi-only option will be available soon. There won't be any 4G-capable devices at launch, however (only 3G), and Samsung is remaining mum on pricing.