Finally the big Telecom giant, AT&T has officially announced to buy T-Mobile USA for $39 billion. This step will add nearly 33 million customers to AT&T in one swoop. So, the combined AT&T subscribers will become 129 million.

T-Mobile, though only a 4th place carrier, has done a lot of good things because of their back of the pack standing. Remember, they were the first carrier to introduce Android to the masses in the T-Mobile G1 (AT&T was the last). As both AT&T and T mobile are using GSM as their basic network, so the network consolidation should be relatively easy and transparent to T-Mobile users. Deutsche Telecom, the parent company will have an 8% stake in AT&T – if the deal is approved by the government. The advantage for T-Mobile users is that now they will be able to access the iPhone and AT&T’s 4G LTE network. The disadvantage is that T-Mobile will not be able to get the unlock code that T-Mobile was giving away on request. AT&T has always been too strict with its policies.

[via UberGizmo]