type public traded as nasdaq tmus industry wireless telecommunications predecessor voicestream wireless inc. t mobile usa inc. metropcs communications inc. founded 1994 ; 22 years ago 1994 founder john w. stanton headquarters bellevue washington united states area served united states puerto rico u.s. virgin islands key people john legere president and ceo j. braxton carter ii cfo mike sievert coo neville ray cto products mobile telephony wireless broadband revenue 32 billion 2015 operating income 2.07 billion 2015 net income 733 million 2015 total assets 62.44 billion 2015 total equity 16.56 billion 2015 owners t mobile international ag 66.6 % number of employees 50 000 2015 1 parent deutsche telekom ag divisions metro pcs gosmart mobile website www.t mobile.com footnotes references 2 3 t mobile us inc. is a major wireless network operator in the united states . the german telecommunications company deutsche telekom dt is its majority shareholder through dt s holding company t mobile international ag . its headquarters are located in bellevue washington in the seattle metropolitan area . t mobile is the third largest wireless carrier in the united states with 67.4 million customers as of q2 2016 . 4 t mobile us provides wireless and data services in the united states puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands under the t mobile metropcs and gosmart mobile brands and also serves as the host network for many mvnos . the company has annual revenues of 32 billion . 1 its nationwide network reaches 98 percent of americans . 5 6 in 2015 consumer reports named t mobile the number one american wireless carrier . 7 contents 1 history 1.1 voicestream wireless 1.2 omnipoint and aerial acquisitions 1.3 deutsche telekom acquires voicestream and powertel 1.4 suncom acquisition 1.5 attempted acquisition by at & t 1.6 merger with metropcs communications 1.7 the un carrier additional wireless spectrum acquisition 1.8 attempted acquisition by sprint 2 wireless networks 2.1 cellular network 2.1.1 packet switched data upgrade 2.1.2 3g upgrade discontinuation 2.1.3 hspa hspa upgrade 2.1.4 4g lte upgrade 2.2 roaming 2.3 radio frequency spectrum chart 2.4 t mobile hotspots 2.4.1 wi fi network public 2.4.2 wi fi network private 3 t mobile products and services 3.1 t mobile one 3.2 simple choice 3.3 capping unlimited data users 3.4 inreach program 3.5 metropcs 3.6 gosmart mobile 3.6.1 phones and sims 3.6.2 authorized dealers 3.7 banking cards 4 customer service 4.1 awards 4.2 outages 4.2.1 sidekick data outage 4.2.2 network outage 5 marketing 5.1 un carrier movement 6 labor relations 6.1 formation of tu 6.2 2009 coordinated organizing effort 6.2.1 political pressure 6.3 reports 6.4 workplace activities 7 information security 8 privacy and surveillance 8.1 data retention policies 9 see also 10 references 11 external links 11.1 official websites 11.2 business data history edit t mobile us inc. traces its roots to the 1994 establishment of voicestream wireless pcs as a subsidiary of western wireless corporation . spun off from parent western wireless on may 3 1999 voicestream wireless was purchased by deutsche telekom ag in 2001 for 35 billion and renamed t mobile usa inc. in july 2002 . 8 9 10 voicestream wireless edit voicestream wireless pcs was established in 1994 as a subsidiary of western wireless corporation to provide digital wireless personal communications services pcs in 19 fcc defined metropolitan service areas in several western and southwestern states . 11 voicestream wireless digital urban service areas complemented the analog rural service areas marketed by western wireless under the cellular one brand . 12 western wireless spun off its voicestream wireless division into a new company called voicestream wireless corporation in may 1999 . 13 voicestream wireless completed mergers with omnipoint corporation in february 2000 and aerial communications inc. in may 2000 . 14 omnipoint and aerial acquisitions edit in 2000 voicestream wireless acquired two regional gsm carriers . omnipoint corporation a regional network operator in the northeastern u.s. was acquired on february 25 2000 . aerial communications inc. ; a regional network operator in the columbus houston kansas city minneapolis st. paul pittsburgh and tampa st. petersburg orlando markets ; was acquired on may 4 2000 . 15 the combined company retired the omnipoint and aerial brands and completed integrating the three companies by converting to a single customer billing platform implementing standard business practices and launching the voicestream brand and get more marketing strategy in all markets . 16 deutsche telekom acquires voicestream and powertel edit transitional logo used by voicestream prior to the 2001 re branding to t mobile . on june 1 2001 deutsche telekom dt completed the acquisition of voicestream wireless inc. for 35 billion and southern u.s. regional gsm network operator powertel inc. for 24 billion . by the end of 2001 voicestream wireless had 19 000 employees serving 7 million subscribers . on september 2 2001 voicestream wireless inc. took the name t mobile usa inc. and began rolling out the t mobile brand starting with locations in california and nevada . 17 t mobile usa inc. is the u.s. operating entity of t mobile international ag the mobile communications subsidiary of deutsche telekom ag . 3 suncom acquisition edit on september 17 2007 the company announced the acquisition of suncom wireless holdings inc. for 2.4 billion ; the acquisition closed on february 22 2008 . by september 8 2008 suncom s operations were integrated with those of the company . the acquisition added suncom s 1.1 million customers to the company s customer base and expanded the company s network coverage to include southern virginia north carolina south carolina eastern tennessee northeastern georgia puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands . attempted acquisition by at & t edit main article attempted purchase of t mobile usa by at & t on march 20 2011 dt accepted a 39 billion stock and cash purchase offer from at & t for the company . the acquisition was subject to regulatory approvals a reverse breakup fee in certain circumstances and customary regulatory and closing conditions . 9 18 19 20 if the merger had been completed at & t mobility would have had a customer base of approximately 130 million users making it the largest wireless carrier in the u.s. 9 on august 31 2011 the united states department of justice sued to block at & t s merger with t mobile on the grounds that it would substantially lessen competition in the wireless market . 21 further reports indicated that the fcc would likely oppose the merger . 22 on december 19 2011 in the face of this heavy resistance from the u.s. government at & t ceo randall stephenson announced that the company had officially withdrawn its 39 billion bid . 23 in an official statement stephenson addressed the continuing spectrum shortage due to a significant increase in wireless demand hinting that the company will continue to seek other options to solve the shortage in the short term . 24 merger with metropcs communications edit on october 3 2012 metropcs communications reached an agreement to merge with t mobile usa . metropcs shareholders would hold a 26 % stake in the merged company which retained the t mobile brand . while the merged company was still the fourth largest carrier in the united states at the time the acquisition gave t mobile access to more spectrum and financial resources to maintain competitiveness and expand its lte network . 25 the merger between t mobile usa inc. and metropcs was officially approved by metropcs shareholders on april 24 2013 . the deal was structured as a reverse takeover ; the combined company went public on the new york stock exchange as tmus and became known as t mobile us inc. on may 1 2013 . 26 the merger agreement gave deutsche telekom the option to sell its 72 % stake in the merged company valued at around 14.2 billion to a third party before the end of the 18 month lock up period . 27 the un carrier additional wireless spectrum acquisition edit in march 2013 t mobile introduced a major overhaul of its plan structure marketed by branding themselves as being the un carrier . among the changes a new contract free pricing structure with simpler plans were introduced in which a phone s cost is paid over a two year financing plan . 28 the un carrier strategy has since been expanded to encompass other value added services such as a plan add on allowing phone trade ins for early upgrades twice per year 29 carrying over unused data allotments for up to a year 30 and zero rating of selected music and video services the latter locked to dvd quality over the mobile network 31 32 these moves came as part of an effort under new ceo john legere to help revitalize the business as it improves its network quality . 28 on june 28 2013 t mobile agreed to buy wireless spectrum for the mississippi valley region from competitor u.s. cellular for around 308 million allowing the company to expand its 4g network across a further 29 markets . 33 on january 6 2014 t mobile signed agreements with verizon wireless to purchase some 700 mhz a block spectrum licenses for 2.365 billion . further a transfer of some aws and pcs spectrum licenses with a value of 950 million has been agreed upon by t mobile and verizon . the acquisition reportedly will give t mobile additional coverage for approximately 158 million people in 9 of the top 10 and 21 of the top 30 u.s. markets . 34 attempted acquisition by sprint edit in december 2013 multiple reports indicated that sprint corporation and its parent company softbank were working towards a deal to acquire a majority stake in t mobile for at least us 20 billion . the proposed merger which would result in the country s major national carriers being controlled by only three companies would further bolster t mobile s position in the overall market . 35 36 37 members of the government were skeptical that such an acquisition would be approved by regulators citing antitrust concerns and an explicit goal by fcc chairman tom wheeler to maintain four national carriers in the united states . 38 39 on april 30 2014 bloomberg reported that sprint was in talks with its lenders to ensure that the company would be financially prepared for the bid now valued at 24 billion and planned for summer 2014 . it was also reported that due to his success within the company current t mobile ceo john legere was the top contender to be named ceo of a merged sprint t mobile and that sprint had insisted on a low termination fee to prevent regulators from being given an incentive to block the deal as had occurred with at & t s failed attempt to purchase t mobile . 40 on august 1 2014 xavier niel s iliad sa publicly announced a us 16 billion all cash counter bid to acquire a 56 % stake in t mobile us which would be funded using equity and debt . iliad is the parent company of french carrier free mobile which had similarly to t mobile performed disruptive business moves to undercut its competitors triggering a price war among them upon its launch in 2012 . credit suisse analysts felt that the bid would not be attractive to the company s current shareholders due to its lower value in comparison to sprint s bid but could put pressure on sprint to move sooner rather than later . 41 42 on august 4 2014 bloomberg reported that sprint had abandoned its bid to acquire t mobile considering the unlikelihood that such a deal would be approved by the u.s. government and its regulators . 43 wireless networks edit the company owns licenses to operate a cellular communications network in the 1900 mhz pcs and 1700 mhz aws bands with coverage in many parts of the