T-Mobile is saying very little about its wholesale agreement with Google, but the extra capacity from its 5G network is definitely fueling new MVNO deals behind the scenes.
During the company’s latest earnings call and at recent investor conferences, T-Mobile executives acknowledged finalizing a multiyear exclusive agreement with Google, which uses the networks of facilities-based carriers for its Google Fi offer.
In addition, T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said during the earnings call that T-Mobile was in discussions with “several other opportunities,” both renewals and greenfield, in the wholesale arena. Another one of those is Altice, a cable company that previously used Sprint’s network to offer wireless services,. Altice brands its wireless service as Optimum Mobile.
At the Deutsche Bank conference on Tuesday, T-Mobile CFO Peter Osvaldik said the company is looking for the right partners on these wholesale deals. “We’re not here to bring wholesale partners on board that are … just going to cannibalize each other’s business,” he said. “But how do we create good complementary businesses and can monetize in a smart way from a value creation perspective, the excess capacity on the network.”
Pressed for additional information on the Google agreement, Osvaldik declined to share any details.
T-Mobile struck an agreement with Dish Network after many months of wrangling between the two last year. Dish complained that T-Mobile was shutting down the CDMA network sooner than expected, leaving a lot of Boost Mobile customers in the lurch.
Ultimately, T-Mobile delayed the shutdown of the CDMA network by three months, so it’s now due to shutter in about two weeks – on March 31. The CDMA network was part of the assets acquired from Sprint.
T-Mobile’s most recent deal with Dish is sitting before the Department of Justice (DoJ) for its perusal. If the DoJ approves it and it becomes binding, that “resolves a lot of the disputes that we have and creates a path for us to have a great partnership in the future,” Osvaldik said.
In the middle of that feud, Dish struck a 10-year, $5 billion wholesale deal with AT&T, which made AT&T the primary network for Dish MVNO customers. Under that July 2021 deal, AT&T began providing network services for Dish’s Boost Mobile, Ting Mobile and Republic Wireless customers. Dish can still keep using T-Mobile’s network for an unspecified amount of time.
During an earnings call last month, Altice USA CEO Dexter Goei hinted that his company was on the cusp of striking a new MVNO deal with T-Mobile.
Details of that arrangement have yet to be announced.
“Altice is another one of those. I think you’ve heard Altice speak about a potential deal coming our way. So yes, we’re always looking at what’s the right value-accretive way to bring on incremental wholesale partners, but it’s another exciting area of the business,” Osvaldik said.