T-Mobile US

T-Mobile US, Inc. is an American wireless network operator headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. Its majority shareholder and namesake is the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom. T-Mobile is the second largest wireless carrier in the United States, with 140 million subscribers as of September 30, 2025.

The company was founded in 1994 by John W. Stanton of the Western Wireless Corporation as VoiceStream Wireless. Deutsche Telekom then gained plurality ownership in 2001 and renamed it after its global T-Mobile brand. As of April 2023^[update], the German company holds a 51.4% stake in the company.

T-Mobile US operates two main brands: T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile (acquired in a 2013 reverse takeover of MetroPCS that also led to T-Mobile's listing on the NASDAQ). In 2020, T-Mobile expanded through the acquisition of Sprint, which also made T-Mobile the operator of Assurance Wireless, a service subsidized by the federal Lifeline program. The company's growth continued in 2024 with the acquisitions of Mint Mobile and Ultra Mobile, two low-cost mobile virtual network operators which remain separate brands. In August 2025, the company acquired the wireless operations of UScellular.

T-Mobile U.S. traces its roots to the 1994 establishment of VoiceStream Wireless PCS as a subsidiary of Western Wireless Corporation. After its spin off from parent Western Wireless on May 3, 1999, VoiceStream Wireless was purchased by Deutsche Telekom AG in 2001 for $35 billion and renamed T-Mobile USA, Inc., in July 2002. In 2013, T-Mobile and MetroPCS finalized a merger of the two companies which started trading as T-Mobile U.S.

VoiceStream Wireless PCS was established in 1994 as a subsidiary of Western Wireless Corporation to provide wireless personal communications services (PCS) in 19 FCC-defined metropolitan service areas in several western and southwestern states using the GSM digital wireless standard. VoiceStream Wireless' digital, urban service areas complemented the analog, rural service areas marketed by Western Wireless under the Cellular One brand.

Western Wireless spun off its VoiceStream Wireless division into a new company called VoiceStream Wireless Corporation in May 1999.

In 2000, VoiceStream Wireless acquired two regional GSM carriers. Omnipoint Corporation, a regional network operator in the Northeastern United States, was acquired on February 25, 2000. Aerial Communications Inc.; a regional network operator in the Columbus, Houston, Kansas City, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Pittsburgh, and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Orlando markets; was acquired on May 4, 2000. The combined company retired the Omnipoint and Aerial brands and completed integrating the three companies by converting to a single customer billing platform, implementing standard business practices and launching the VoiceStream brand and "GET MORE" marketing strategy in all markets.

On June 1, 2001, Deutsche Telekom (DT) completed its acquisition of VoiceStream Wireless, Inc., for $35 billion and Southern U.S. regional GSM network operator Powertel, Inc., for $24 billion. By the end of 2001, VoiceStream Wireless had 19,000 employees serving 7 million subscribers.