T-Mobile in talks to buy Mint

[frail]

Mint Mobile, which is partly owned by Ryan Reynolds, might be acquired by T-Mobile.

The two companies are apparently in talks about a potential acquisition, according to Bloomberg.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/11/2...ed-by-t-mobile

[ctk74]

https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/11/2...ed-by-t-mobile

Not sure to love or hate the idea of this. Been using Mint for 2 years and am generally happy with it but there are some shortcomings that TMUS could address. On the other hand, there is plenty they could take away too. Hmmm...

[Chipk]

Well said and completely agree. Moved from T-Mo to Mint 3 years ago and generally been pretty darn good!

Not sure to love or hate the idea of this. Been using Mint for 2 years and am generally happy with it but there are some shortcomings that TMUS could address. On the other hand, there is plenty they could take away too. Hmmm...

[PaulCrawhorne]

hate

anything that reduces the number of players is a bad thing

no matter what improvements might occur

[David Walcott]

I was going to move to mint when I leave Xfinit mobile. The prices are very good for my family. T-Mobile is too high for what my needs are. I may end up with going to Google Fi.

[NotABiot]

hate

anything that reduces the number of players is a bad thing

no matter what improvements might occur

It's just a T-Mobile reseller. Not much of a player. But I have been spammed and otherwise hit with so many of their ads. Anything that removes an origin point of noxious advertising is a good thing.

[clonehappy]

Buy Mint and do what with it? Last I heard, T-Mo wanted out of the prepaid business. The focus was solely on high-ARPU postpaid accounts, and everything else was to be phased out.

And they already have their “Captive MVNO” in MetroPCS and T-Mobile prepaid still exists, even if it isn’t really competitive.

I guess the Mint subscribers could become Metro subscribers? Or better yet, they could make one of their existing brands more competitive if they’re losing subs to Mint. I agree that it’s bad to eliminate another competitor. As much as I generally dislike MVNOs for any lines of service that actually matter, I like that they at least apply some downward pressure on the carriers to at least make the appearance of competing on price.


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[formercanuck]

I suspect they would be Metro and TMobile would be able to push/promote their other services and use of their stores.

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[Theghostlad82]

Buy Mint and do what with it? Last I heard, T-Mo wanted out of the prepaid business. The focus was solely on high-ARPU postpaid accounts, and everything else was to be phased out.

And they already have their “Captive MVNO” in MetroPCS and T-Mobile prepaid still exists, even if it isn’t really competitive.

I guess the Mint subscribers could become Metro subscribers? Or better yet, they could make one of their existing brands more competitive if they’re losing subs to Mint. I agree that it’s bad to eliminate another competitor. As much as I generally dislike MVNOs for any lines of service that actually matter, I like that they at least apply some downward pressure on the carriers to at least make the appearance of competing on price.


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Metro by T-Mobile is the largest prepaid brand in the country….how is it “not competitive”?

I doubt this has anything to do with T-Mobile losing subs to mint, and more to do with mint wanting to sell and approaching T-Mobile. Rumors started in the middle of last year that mint was looking for a buyer, and evidently nobody was that interested, so they likely approached T-Mobile for a sale. If the price is right it’s a no brainer.


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[zapjb]

I wonder if Mint is operating at a loss.

[Theghostlad82]

I wonder if Mint is operating at a loss.

Most smaller mvno’s operate at a loss, or at a very minimal profit margin, thus why most don’t last more than 3 or 4 years and eventually sell or shut down. I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole reason Ryan Reynold’s even bought into the company was to try to flip his investment in a sale. He kind of did the same thing with his aviation gin investment, they sold to the people who own Smirnoff vodka, though I believe he still owns a small part of aviation after the sale.


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[clonehappy]

Metro by T-Mobile is the largest prepaid brand in the country….how is it “not competitive”?

I was referring to branded T-Mobile prepaid not being competitive.

Metro is decent, if you can put up with all the restrictions and deprioritization. For their target market, it fits the bill obviously.

T-Mobile prepaid is the same price as Verizon.


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[Theghostlad82]

I was referring to branded T-Mobile prepaid not being competitive.

Metro is decent, if you can put up with all the restrictions and deprioritization. For their target market, it fits the bill obviously.

T-Mobile prepaid is the same price as Verizon.


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Would agree, compared to metro, cricket, straight talk and such tmobile prepaid isnt priced overly competitively, but I have a feeling that's by design. They likely want to push the users just looking for prepaid options over to metro, metro does phone deals, offers plans for wearables and tablets, offers family plans and such. Tmobile prepaid is more set up to be a last option for stores to offer the customer who comes in looking for postpaid service, but for whatever reason is denied postpaid service. I believe they still even offer their smartphone equity program on tmobile prepaid, where after 12 months of on time prepaid payments, they offer the user a postpaid account with postpaid financing on devices.
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