Comcast Corp eyes deal with Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile US unit

Deutsche Telekom AG shares jumped today by as much as 2.1 per cent on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange trading after Manager Magazin reported that Comcast Corp is eying a deal with the German company's T-Mobile US unit.

Deutsche Telekom shares traded at €15.30 at noon in Frankfurt, giving it a market value of $31.5 billion.

The paper said that Deutsche Telekom is in talks with several suitors on T-Mobile, and Comcast is among one of the parties, the report said.

Early this week, techtimes.com reported that Dish Network Corp had been meeting with various financing institutions in a bid to secure between $10 billion and $15 billion to increase the cash portion of its acquisition bid for T-Mobile US. (See: Dish in talks with banks for funding T-Mobile acquisition)

Deutsche Telekom AG, which owns 66 per cent of T-Mobile US, has been in extended talks with Dish Network, which had acquired an extensive portfolio of spectrum, the most important component of wireless networks that carry the growing amount of data flowing through mobile devices.

T-Mobile US provides wireless voice, messaging, and data services in the US, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands under the T-Mobile, MetroPCS, and GoSmart Mobile brands.

The company operates the fourth and fifth largest wireless networks in the US market with 56.8 million customers and annual revenues of $21.35 billion.

After a failed attempt by AT&T in 2011 to buy the company in an $39 billion stock and cash offer over regulatory issues, T-Mobile US announced its intent to merge with MetroPCS Communications, Inc., the fifth largest carrier in the US.

Comcast is also looking at mega deals after it recently backed out of a $45.2-billion merger deal with Time Warner Cable over fears of a possible veto from federal regulators.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based Comcast is the largest cable operator in the world (and also the largest in the US) by revenue. It is also the third-largest home telephone service provider in the US.

Comcast provides cable television, broadband Internet and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 40 states and the District of Columbia.

Comcast's subscribers have access to its cloud-based X1 Entertainment Operating System, plus 50,000 video on demand choices on television, 300,000 plus streaming choices on XfinityTV.com, Xfinity TV mobile apps that offer 35 live streaming channels plus the ability to download to watch offline later, and the newly launched X1 cloud DVR.

It also owns media company NBCUniversal, produces film and television content, and operates national channels NBC and Telemundo. It also operates major film studio Universal Pictures and theme park company Universal Parks & Resorts.

In 2012 it posted net income of $6.2 billion on revenues of $62.2 billion.