T-Mobile moves to renegotiate MVNO deals

As T-Mobile works to integrate Sprint into its operations, the company also appears to be moving forward with new MVNO agreements.

Specifically, T-Mobile has either inked a new agreement or is in the final stages of doing so with Boost Mobile owner Dish Network; Google, which offers mobile services through Google Fi; and cable company Altice, which operates Optimum Mobile.

Figure 1: (Source: ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy Stock Photo)

T-Mobile executives disclosed the company's new deal with Google during an investor event Wednesday. T-Mobile CFO Peter Osvaldik said the operator has inked a new wholesale deal with Google but did not offer any details. Both T-Mobile and Sprint supported Google's entry into the mobile industry in 2015.

Osvaldik said that T-Mobile is keen to increase revenue from wholesale deals like its new agreement for the Google Fi MVNO service.

His comments come weeks after Altice USA CEO Dexter Goei said his company is close to announcing a new MVNO deal with T-Mobile. Goei didn't reveal any specifics or say whether it could help with developing the kind of family plans that Comcast and Charter have assembled in the wake of their revised MVNO agreements with Verizon.

"Wireless is very important to our strategy," Goei said.

Separately, Dish Network executives said last month that the company has forged a new agreement with T-Mobile that will resolve issues tied to T-Mobile's coming CDMA network shutdown. Dish and T-Mobile have been bickering over the CDMA shutdown issue for months, with Dish complaining that the shutdown impacts many of the Sprint Boost Mobile customers it acquired from T-Mobile in 2020.

T-Mobile's Osvaldik said the company's new MVNO agreement with Dish – which offers mobile services to roughly 9 million customers through its Boost Mobile business – is pending review at the US Department of Justice.

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— Mike Dano, Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies, Light Reading | @mikeddano