T-Mobile, the country's fourth-largest cellphone carrier, is set to complete its acquisition of MetroPCS after the stock market closes on Tuesday.
T-Mobile is adding 9 million MetroPCS customers to its own 34 million. The combined company will stall lag No. 3 Sprint Nextel Corp. in size.
No immediate changes are expected for MetroPCS customers, but T-Mobile USA plans to shut down MetroPCS's network over two years, which means MetroPCS phones will eventually stop working. T-Mobile will use the space freed up on the airwaves to boost its own coverage and data speeds.
T-Mobile USA, a subsidiary of Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG, will gain its own U.S. stock listing by merging with Dallas-based MetroPCS Communications Inc., which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
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