Rumor Mill: T-Mobile's MetroPCS to start selling and accepting GSM phones

T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) brand MetroPCS will start selling GSM phones that work on T-Mobile's network as soon as June 12, according to a PhoneArena report.

The report, citing an unnamed source, said MetroPCS will soon begin selling Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Exhibit and the LG Electronics' Optimus L9. The phones will have support for GSM/EDGE service as well as HSPA+ on T-Mobile's network. T-Mobile's larger goal is to convert MetroPCS CDMA customers over to its network over the next several years following their merger, which was completed last month.

Additionally, the report said on June 12 MetroPCS will launch a program to allow customers to bring their own unlocked GSM phones to its service. The report said Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android phones and (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phones will be supported, but curiously BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY) phones will not be supported.

A MetroPCS spokesman declined to comment and a T-Mobile spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Speaking at an investor conference in mid-May T-Mobile CFO Braxton Carter said T-Mobile was "weeks away" from seeding HSPA+ and LTE smartphones into MetroPCS distribution channels. T-Mobile plans to expand the footprint where the MetroPCS brand offers service by around 100 million POPs over the next six quarters, he said.

T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray, who was speaking at the conference with Carter, said "there will be LTE access for those customers in those expansion markets." At the time, Ray also said he was "extremely confident" T-Mobile will surpass 100 million POPs covered with its own LTE network by mid-year en route to covering 200 million by year-end.

For more:
- see this PhoneArena post
- see this Engadget article

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