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Want to buy T-Mobile US? Yours for $35 per share – report

Deutsche Telekom sets the price of its honor

The parent company of US mobile telco bad boy T-Mobile has reportedly decided it will sell the firm, after two failed bids, and has set its price at $35 per share.

According to a person with knowledge of the matter, senior managers at the German firm met for a strategy meeting in Berlin on Thursday to discuss the recently failed bid from French firm Illiad, Bloomberg reports. That offer was $33 per share, but apparently Deutsche Telekom have decided that $35 is a good offer.

Deutsche Telekom owns two thirds of T-Mobile US and has been trying to sell the division for years now. AT&T were the preferred suitor, but that deal got blocked by US regulators who weren't keen on the second biggest mobile telco in the US swallowing the number four player.

After the deal fell through T-Mobile hired old AT&T hand John Legere to run the company, and he proceeded to shake up the cozy oligopoly that was running mobile communications in the US with an "Un-carrier" initiative aimed at shaping up the market and growing his slice of the market.

The policy has been a success, with T-Mobile's subscriber numbers soaring while the competition lost custom. The merger with MetroPCS has also helped, but the firm is still struggling to make a profit and has significant debt.

Softbank-owned Sprint has also made a bid which, according to Bloomberg, valued the firm at $40 per share. The merger failed through over fears that the US regulators would have similar objections the Deutsche Telekom mole reports.

Sprint's offer was followed up by Illiad – a deal that the US regulators shouldn't have a problem with, but it was rejected by Deutsche Telekom. This latest leak, whether it be a good source or a deliberate whisper from the Germans, suggests if the French firm offers a little more there might be a rapprochement if it offers a little more.

There's no word from T-Mobile on the veracity or otherwise of the report, and its normally free-speaking CEO clearly has other things on his mind. ®

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