Sprint CFO silent on MetroPCS acquisition plans

10.10.2012
Is Sprint preparing a bid for prepaid wireless carrier MetroPCS? Whatever the rumors and whatever the company's plans, its chief financial officer didn't offer any clues when speaking Wednesday morning at a conference in Arizona.

Last week Deutsche Telekom regarding a deal to combine it with T-Mobile USA. Reports have said Sprint or satellite pay TV operator Dish Network could also be interested in a deal with MetroPCS.

"We aren't going to comment on the whole M&A thing," said Joe Euteneuer, in response to a question. "We believe in consolidation in the industry, I don't think that has changed."

MetroPCS has just over 9 million customers and operates in major population centers in the U.S. It concentrates on offering prepaid wireless plans, in contrast to most of the larger carriers that sign up the majority of their customers to contracts that are a year or longer. T-Mobile is the fourth-largest carrier in the U.S. cellular industry with 33 million subscribers.

Euteneuer, who has been CFO at third-ranked Sprint since April last year, was asked what a T-Mobile deal with MetroPCS would mean for the industry.

"I think all you've seen is two players trying to consolidate," he said. "That's all you've seen. I don't know what else to tell you."