AT&T (NYSE:T): According to AT&T, it will effectively double the amount of markets where it plans to initially launch its Digital Life home automation service from eight to 15, Fierce Wireless reports. However, AT&T has not named the markets or said when exactly the service is scheduled to stared. In a statement, the company said that the offering will launch “this spring,.” AT&T decided to keep its plan to continue to launch Digital Life in new markets across the nation, and it has intentions to reach as many as 50 markets by the end of 2013. During January, AT&T announced its intention to launch Digital Life in eight markets. During AT&T’s annual Developer Summit that was held in conjunction with the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, Glenn Lurie, president of emerging enterprises and partnerships at AT&T, stated that the company’s Digital Life product will use its wireless network and will allow subscribers to customize the service and have flexible price plans.
Vodafone (NASDAQ:VOD): The company narrowed its market-value gap to Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) as investors consider a merger or an agreement regarding their U.S. wireless venture to be increasingly likely, Bloomberg stated. Vodafone saw an increase of about 12 percent since March 5, when Bloomberg reported that Verizon has been working to resolve their relationship this year, and the companies discussed various options including the idea of the U.S. carrier acquiring 100 percent of the Verizon Wireless venture. Verizon is excited to take on full ownership to win more control over its most profitable division, according to sources familiar with the matter. It is possible that Vodafone could get $115 billion for its 45 percent stake in the venture, which has become the largest U.S. wireless service provider, analysts claim.
MetroPCS Communications (NYSE:PCS): The company maintained a plea for shareholders to vote for the U.S. wireless carrier’s planned combination with Deutsche Telekom AG’s T- Mobile USA unit, as it says that it has received no rival offers. “No other bidders have emerged in the five months since the proposed combination was announced,” MetroPCS said today in a statement. “The proposed combination is the best alternative for MetroPCS to maximize stockholder value.” Shareholders are to vote on the deal at a meeting scheduled for April 12. This would combine the nation’s fourth- and fifth-largest mobile-service providers, providingDeutsche Telekom with 74 percent stake in the combined entity. The merger has been cleared by regulators, but two of MetroPCS’s biggest investors, Paulson & Co. and P. Schoenfeld Asset Management, criticized the proposal.
Don’t Miss: Vodafone Knocks Verizon To #2.