T-Mobile could be the next carrier to merge with a big media company

In the wake of last weekend’s surprise announcement that AT&T plans to acquire Time Warner, many financial analysts now believe that T-Mobile could be the next major wireless carrier to merge with a big media company

Reuters reports that at least nine of those analysts raised their target price for T-Mobile this week, and its stock price went up 9.5 percent on Monday after it announced its latest quarterly financial results. T-Mobile added 851,000 postpaid subscribers in its last fiscal quarter, mostly from AT&T and Sprint.

Because of its continued subscriber growth, combined with this weekend’s AT&T-Time Warner news, many analysts believe that T-Mobile could be seen as a takeover target from companies such as Comcast (owners of NBCUniversal), satellite TV provider Dish and Mexican telecom company America Movil.

All of this merger talk is due to a combination of factors. Wireless carriers are having more issues adding customers in the US, while media companies are looking for more avenues to distribute their movies and TV shows.  The final result is that the AT&T-Time Warner deal could be the first of many in the months and years to come.

Do you think wireless carriers need to merge with media companies, or should they stick with their current business model?