German telecommunications firm Deutsche Telekom is exploring a full acquisition of American wireless company T-Mobile, according to a report published on Tuesday.
The report, from Bloomberg, said Deutsche Telekom is weighing the creation of a new holding company that would acquire the stock of both T-Mobile U.S. and the Germany telecom, which would effectively put Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile under common ownership.
Discussions about the new holding company that would put Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile U.S. under common ownership are still in preliminary stages, according to Bloomberg. Any deal would be subject to regulatory approvals in Germany and the United States; in the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would need to sign off on the transfer of wireless spectrum T-Mobile uses for its voice and broadband networks to the holding company.
The combined company would likely be headquartered in a European country that isn’t Germany, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the matter. One popular country for multinational holding companies is Ireland, where a U.S. gas company combined with a similar operation based in Germany, the outlet said. It wasn’t clear from Bloomberg’s reporting if Ireland is being considered for T-Mobile’s holding company.
Officials at Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile have not commented on the matter.
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Deutsche Telekom is currently the largest owner of T-Mobile’s stock, with a 52 percent stake in the company. The company was formed in 2001 when Deutsche Telekom purchased what was then called VoiceStream Wireless PCS for around $35 billion.
Deutsche Telekom has a valuation of nearly $167 billion, according to Reuters. The company spun out of state-owned postal service Deutsche Bundespost in the mid-1990s; the German government continues to own around 15 percent of Deutsche Telekom’s stock, making the telecom a quasi-public entity.
In an interview with a podcast earlier this year, Deutsche Telekom CEO Tom Hoettges said most of the company’s global market valuation comes from T-Mobile U.S., and complained that regulations in Europe were hampering the company’s ability to grow its infrastructure and network in Germany and other countries.
T-Mobile U.S. counted more than 142 million wireless lines of service as of early 2026, making it the second-largest wireless carrier in the country, behind Verizon (nearly 147 million wireless lines). It operates a number of subsidiary businesses, including Metro by T-Mobile (formerly MetroPCS), Mint Mobile and Ultra Mobile. The company has also made a number of strategic acquisitions over the past few years, to include merging with Sprint and buying U.S. Cellular.
T-Mobile also leases access to its network through wholesale arrangements with other prepaid brands, including Google Fi, U.S. Mobile, Tello, Red Pocket Mobile and Verizon’s Simple Mobile.
