Yes, for now this is strictly rumor material, but it could shake up the prepaid cell phones industry if it happens: AT&T might be considering an acquisition of Leap Wireless, a prepaid provider.
This coming from The Wall Street Journal’s “Heart on the Street” column, and right now, the only smoking gun so to speak is that both companies cancelled an appearance at an investor conference. There could be other reasons why that happened, but sometimes this does happen right before an acquisition or deal of some sort.
But…there are a few reasons why such a deal might not make a lot of sense.
First and foremost: the network. AT&T uses GSM network, while Leap Wireless uses CDMA. Yes, they are different, and operating both at once can cause many issues (see: Sprint/Nextel for more proof of that).
While Leap may end up merging with someone (based on recent rumors), AT&T may or may not be the one they end up with in the long run. We’ll keep an eye on this.
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