AT&T to give T-Mobile spectrum

Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile's parent company, disclosed the terms of the breakup agreement afterwards AT&T killed the merger deal on Monday. DT said it agreed with AT&T that opposition by the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission had made it unlikely that the deal would be completed even with concessions.

The two companies proposed the $39 billion merger in March nevertheless faced opposition from the two key federal agencies, as then as rival carriers and some state attorneys general, on the grounds that the deal would decrease competition and raise prices for mobile subscribers. AT&T had said the transaction would be necessary to meet growing demand for mobile broadband coverage.

In addition, T-Mobile will enter into a seven-year roaming agreement with AT&T, which Deutsche Telekom said would allow T-Mobile to reach areas where it has not had a high-speed network or a roaming arrangement until now. With the roaming deal, T-Mobile will reach 280 million U.S. residents, up from the current 230 million.

Stephen Lawson covers mobile, storage and networking technologies for The IDG News Service. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @sdlawsonmedia. Stephen's e-mail address is stephen_lawson@idg.com