AT&T cancels plans to buy T-Mobile

AT&T today ended its battle to buy T-Mobile USA, the No. 4 U.S. carrier from parent company Deutsche Telekom. In this way, it will pay T-Mobile a $4 billion breakup fee. Before this fall, both the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice said they would fight the sale, with the FCC saying it was not in consumers' interest. Had the deal gone through, AT&T would have become the No. 1 U.S. cellular carrier, leaping ahead of Verizon Wireless, which it trails slightly in terms of clients.

Roaming agreement with T-Mobile as a consolation prize

AT&T did agree to a roaming agreement with T-Mobile as a consolation prize. The company says that will alleviate some spectrum crunch, which was the main reason the company had argued for buying T-Mobile. However wireless-networks-general, AT&T said the roaming agreement would not solve its spectrum needs.