The aluminum-clad phone is similar to the Lumia 920 that has been sold for months at AT&T, as well as the just-introduced Lumia 928 for Verizon. The new phone, being introduced globally and headed here to T-Mobile, features a few new twists.

In addition to its different outer shell, the 925 features an improved camera with a sixth lens (other recent high-end Lumia models have five). The added lens helps better capture natural light.

On the software side, the company is offering what it calls Nokia Smart Camera — a feature that captures 10 images at once, offering the ability to choose the best shot or blend the results into an action shot or one with motion focus. Nokia said the software-based camera features would also be made available for all of Nokia’s other Windows Phone 8 products sometime in the third quarter.

The Lumia 925 is due to go on sale in Europe in June, with T-Mobile’s U.S. launch likely to be the following week. It is priced at 469 euros ($608), though Nokia U.S. head Matt Rothschild said he expected T-Mobile’s upfront price to be under $100.

“We expect really aggressive pricing,” Rothschild said.

With the launch of this phone, the recent announcement of the Lumia 928 at Verizon, as well as the entry-level Lumia 521, also headed for T-Mobile, Rothschild said that Nokia’s U.S. operation has plenty to keep it busy in the months ahead.

Nokia has struggled to make the same kind of inroads in the U.S. market that it has seen in some other places, but Rothschild said he is pleased with where the company finds itself.

“From where we were … basically starting from scratch with Lumia and Windows Phone, I couldn’t be happier with our progress,” Rothschild said.

For the quarter ending March 31, T-Mobile reported a 7 percent dip in revenue from a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings, excluding interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of $1.2 billion was also down 7.5 percent from a year earlier, though that figure was up from the fourth quarter.

However, T-Mobile has been pretty darn busy since the quarter ended — adding the iPhone, doing away with phone subsidies and closing its deal to acquire MetroPCS. The company is also spending billions to build an LTE network as it tries to catch up to its larger rivals.

T-Mobile had announced some quarterly metrics back in April, when it noted that it added 579,000 subscribers in the three-month period, with contract subscriber losses for the quarter narrowing to 199,000.

“Our first quarter operating metrics and financial results are showing positive impact from the changes we began making in the fourth quarter,” CEO John Legere said in a statement, adding that the company added T-Mobile branded customers for the first time since early 2009. “Things only get more exciting from here, having brought T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS together to create the wireless industry’s value leader and premier challenger.”

“Don’t be confused,” Legere told AllThingsD. “We’re not running two companies. We are clearly going to be one integrated company that uses two brands to go to market.”

As for the iPhone coming to MetroPCS, Legere said it’s a possibility, but not a foregone conclusion.

“The answer to that is not ‘No,’” Legere said, but added, “It’s not imminent; I think that’s safe to say.”

There are two big factors. One is how T-Mobile decides it wants to position the two brands and manage its marketing.

“It’s also something that involves Apple,” Legere said, but added that “we’ve started those dialogues with our partners.”

Beyond the iPhone, though, T-Mobile plans to move quickly to introduce new devices as early as next month that bear the MetroPCS brand but run on T-Mobile’s network.

Even as it maintains the MetroPCS brand, T-Mobile wants to transition customers quickly to T-Mobile’s network. That’s critical to minimizing the time spent operating incompatible networks and to allowing T-Mobile more efficient use of its spectrum.

“This is about customer migration, not network integration,” Legere said, reiterating a point CTO Neville Ray made in an interview shortly after the deal was announced last October.

Offering MetroPCS handsets on the T-Mobile network also allows that brand to move into new cities. Legere said the company is working through a double-digit list of cities and plans to aggressively target new markets this year, though he didn’t say whether the first new cities would come in the second or third quarter.

“We’re deciding those cities this week,” Legere said. “We’re going to move fast and big.”

Meanwhile, Legere also said that T-Mobile is making good progress on its “uncarrier” approach that began last month, noting that both its prepaid and postpaid businesses are ahead of expectations, though he didn’t give specifics. He also said the company’s iPhone sales have exceeded expectations, though again he declined to give hard numbers.

Legere did say the company is on track for its goal of shifting from losing postpaid customers to gaining customers at some point this year and being positive for the full 2014.

With the deal done, the company will turn to the task of rapidly integrating the prepaid carrier into its existing business and technology roadmap.

The company has been working on integration plans for months and aims to hit the ground running. CTO Neville Ray promised that the company is well aware of what happened to Sprint when it bought Nextel and is taking pains to avoid that fate.

T-Mobile plans to keep MetroPCS as a separate brand targeting different demographics. That means operating separate stores and maintaining both brands. Plus, T-Mobile has the opportunity to now expand the brand into markets that MetroPCS had missed out on due to a lack of spectrum.

However, T-Mobile hopes to quickly start selling new and renewing MetroPCS customers on a new crop of devices that run on T-Mobile’s spectrum.

“This isn’t about integrating these two networks,” Ray said in an October interview. “It’s about moving MetroPCS over to a bigger and stronger converged network.”

Meanwhile, T-Mobile has made a number of big moves separate from the MetroPCS deal. Last month it announced a plan to scrap phone subsidies, eliminate long-term contracts and, at long last add the iPhone to its lineup.

And the company has spent $4 billion modernizing its network, moving to more widely adopted spectrum and adopting LTE.

In acquiring MetroPCS, T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom also turns T-Mobile USA into a publicly traded company, albeit one still three-quarters owned by the German telecommunications firm. (T-Mobile will trade under the ticker symbol “TMUS” on the New York Stock Exchange.)

That said, one big thing hasn’t changed. T-Mobile remains the No. 4 U.S. carrier and even with MetroPCS, it will significantly trail its top three rivals in all measures of scale.

Update: T-Mobile’s investor relations website has been updated to reflect the combination as having taken place, with its executive leadership team updated to list Thomas Keys as Executive VP and operating chief of the MetroPCS business unit. Meanwhile, MetroPCS’ investor relations page now points to T-Mobile.

In particular, the state’s attorney general took issue with the fact that T-Mobile forces those financing their phones to either continue service with the carrier until the device is paid for or to pay the full remaining cost of the phone when they want to cancel.

“Consumers who cancel their wireless service face an unanticipated balloon payment for the phone equipment — in some cases higher than termination fees for other wireless carriers depending on how early they cancel,” the Washington attorney general’s office said in a statement.

Under the agreement announced Thursday, T-Mobile consented to changes in how it markets the plans and to offer refunds to anyone who signed up with T-Mobile between March 26 and April 25.

“As America’s Un-carrier, our goal is to increase transparency with our customers, unleashing them from restrictive long-term service contracts — this kind of simple, straight forward approach is core to the new company we are building,” T-Mobile said in a statement. “While we believe our advertising was truthful and appropriate, we voluntarily agreed to this arrangement with the Washington AG in this spirit.”

Announced last month, T-Mobile’s new plans drop phone subsidies and two-year service commitments. Those who pay for their phone in full or bring their own device are free to cancel whenever.

Customers can also choose to finance their phone over two years; those who do find themselves in a situation that looks roughly similar to a contract.

In what it dubbed its “best and final offer” for MetroPCS, Deutsche Telekom reduced the loans that it would be owed by $3.8 billion to $11.2 billion, and also said it would lower the interest rate on the debt.

“This lower rate reflects the new capital structure of the combined company, the improved capital markets environment in recent months, and the interest rate level of MetroPCS newly issued USD 3.5 billion of bonds priced in March,” Deutsche Telekom said.

Other terms of the deal would remain the same, Deutsche Telekom said, allowing a scheduled vote by MetroPCS shareholders to proceed as scheduled. Regulators in the U.S. have already approved the deal.

Under the deal, MetroPCS shareholders would get $1.5 billion in cash and a 26 percent stake in the merged company. Deutsche Telekom would also control the board of the combined company.

Certain shareholders, as well as a key proxy advisory firm, had been urging a vote against the deal unless better terms were offered.

The German telecom company is trying to save a deal to merge its U.S. unit, T-Mobile USA, with MetroPCS in the face of heavy shareholder opposition over the terms. The new terms would likely include a reduction in the amount of debt that will be transferred to the new company, a change some MetroPCS shareholders have sought, the people said.

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T-Mobile will offer a variety of discounts for those who trade in an iPhone 4, iPhone 4S or iPhone 5. The discounts come in the form of a lower upfront payment, bill credit, and discounts of the monthly device financing cost.

In each case, trading in an iPhone will bring the upfront cost down from $99 to zero, with additional credits depending on which model of iPhone is being traded in. The total savings can add up to hundreds of dollars.

“It really is the simplest and most affordable way to get into an iPhone 5,” T-Mobile Senior VP Andrew Sherrard said in an interview.

The trade-in offer is slated to run through June 16 — Father’s Day.

As for overall iPhone business, Sherrard said that T-Mobile is pleased with preorders, but declined to say how many had come in.

“We’re really happy and pleased with how that’s going,” Sherrard said. “We think we are going to see some good traffic in our stores on Friday and Saturday.”

T-Mobile will start selling the iPhone 5 at 9 am local time on Friday.

The latest to respond is Sprint’s Virgin Mobile unit, which is offering $100 to any T-Mobile customers who want to switch. To be eligible, T-Mobile customers need to bring their phone number over to Virgin Mobile.

The promotion comes as T-Mobile is itself moving closer to the prepaid model, ditching phone subsidies and long-term commitments.

Virgin, for its part, is making the case that its prepaid plan beats T-Mobile’s new no-contract offers.

Over the next two years, an engineering team from the San Diego-based tech company will help the league go stadium by stadium and assess the state of Wi-Fi and cellular coverage and help plan improvements.

“Collaborating with an industry leader such as Qualcomm is a critical step in understanding and executing on the engineering challenges to achieve scalable, reliable in-venue connectivity,” Major League Baseball Advanced Media CTO Joe Inzerillo said in a statement.

Baseball is also working with T-Mobile to modernize, among other things, the phones that connect the bullpens to the dugouts.

The company said that its total customer base grew to 34 million in the three-month period, an increase of 579,000. It still lost nearly 200,000 contract customers, though that’s narrower than the 515,000 postpaid defections it saw in the prior quarter.

The rate of churn among its contract base narrowed to 1.9 percent, the best such figure in four years, T-Mobile said.

“These results display positive momentum and the first positive branded growth in four years,” CEO John Legere said in a statement. “We have made material progress in stabilizing our branded business in Q1, which provides a solid foundation to build on with the new Un-carrier customer offers we launched last week across America.”

Last week, the company outlined a new strategy that focuses on ending phone subsidies, limiting contracts and plugging two key holes in its portfolio — the lack of LTE and the iPhone. The company is also in the process of trying to acquire MetroPCS, a deal that has recently run into opposition from shareholders and advisory firms.

With the iPhone 5, T-Mobile is actually getting its own version of the phone, supporting its unique spectrum bands, meaning that the device supports all of the company’s high-speed options. It will also support HD Voice, a feature that Apple included with iPhone 5 but hasn’t yet been supported by U.S. carriers.

The phone will sell for $99 down and $20 per month for 24 months.

T-Mobile will also have the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S in select markets. However, the older iPhones won’t support T-Mobile’s AWS bands, meaning they will work at full speeds only in cities where T-Mobile has added support for carrying high-speed data over the same frequencies used by AT&T. (T-Mobile currently has done so in 49 areas.)

The iPhone 4S will be priced at $69.99 down and $20 per month for 24 months, while the iPhone 4 will cost $14.99 upfront and $15 a month for 24 months. Those will also be available April 12, we’re told.

The carrier is taking sign-ups for the iPhone 5 on its website.

The revamped No. 4 carrier is still the underdog, of course, but now the company has some of the pieces it has long been missing. T-Mobile has been readying an LTE network, making plans to stop subsidizing new phones, and has struck a deal to start selling the iPhone.

The one piece of the puzzle that remains unresolved is the company’s pending merger with MetroPCS. That deal has won regulatory approval but is still subject to an April vote of MetroPCS shareholders.

T-Mobile is set to announce details of its efforts at an event due to take place later on Tuesday.

AllThingsD will have live coverage when the event kicks off around 8:30 am PT.

Earlier:

8:02 am: It’s apparently quite cold, and reporters haven’t been let in to the T-Mobile event in New York. (We’re covering via the Webcast, which, Internet feed permitting, seems like the right call.)

Associated Press reporter Peter Svensson notes that it isn’t so much cold in New York as it is “unwarm.” (T-Mobile likes to bill itself as the “uncarrier.”)

8:08 am: The event hasn’t started, but some new ads are showing up on places like CNET. They show T-Mobile with a new slogan of “un-leash” and promote the hashtag #simplechoice.

Here’s a look at one:

8:11 am: T-Mobile has also posted a PDF of a press release on its website announcing its first LTE-compatible hotspot.

8:15 am: T-Mobile is also tweeting away, with its latest post proclaiming, “Today we will break away from the absurd norms of the wireless industry. Big announcements coming in 10min.”

Today we will break away from the absurd norms of the wireless industry. Big announcements coming in 10min @tmobile #SimpleChoice

– T-Mobile USA (@TMobile) March 26, 2013

8:24 am: T-Mobile is going big on the theme that folks are being trapped in the current business model.

Welcome to the T-Mobile press conference. Event motif: post-apocalyptic. twitter.com/rossrubin/stat…

– Ross Rubin (@rossrubin) March 26, 2013

Apparently the scene inside the press conference is very eerie. That contrasts with the hold music on the Webcast, which is pretty standard-fare Muzak.

More scenes from inside, courtesy of Twitter:

T-Mobile has a giant contract effigy at its press conference. No torches were provided. twitter.com/rossrubin/stat…

– Ross Rubin (@rossrubin) March 26, 2013

8:31 am: Okay, things are kicking off with a video of Jason Jones exposing the “seedy industry” of wireless.

Jones, for those who aren’t familiar, is of “The Daily Show” fame.

8:35 am: T-Mobile’s event is just getting started, but a press release that just hit our inbox confirms the big news.

The iPhone 5 will be available soon, along with other LTE-capable devices including the HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note II, BlackBerry Z10 and the Sonic 2.0 hotspot we mentioned before.

The carrier is launching its LTE network in seven areas including Baltimore, Houston, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Jose and Washington, D.C.

There’s also the new rate plans, as well as a Western-themed “un-leash” ad campaign that will kick off tomorrow.

8:40 am: T-Mobile is going off on the traditional way of doing business, lashing out at the contract approach to cellphones.

Meanwhile, back onstage, T-Mobile is going off about the downsides of the cellphone business.

“That phone that seems so beautiful when you walk into the store … How long before it seems like a dinosaur?” T-Mobile is saying onstage.

And the carriers, they love you — once every 23 months.

8:43 am: Next target: Overages.

The pink-T-shirt-clad speaker, by the way, is CEO John Legere, who just gave out his email address (john.legere@t-mobile.com).

“The industry is broken,” Legere said.

8:45 am: T-Mobile says it takes issue with the characterization that it is moving away from unsubsidized phones.

“This is the biggest crock of shit I’ve ever heard in my entire life,” Legere said. Do you have any idea how much you are paying?

“You pay a lot for these gadgets,” Legere said, noting that customers would be lucky if all they paid was full price.

8:48 am: Now he’s talking about what T-Mobile brings to the table, starting with its LTE network.

Legere highlights the fact that where T-Mobile doesn’t have LTE, customers will still get a very fast HSPA+ network.

The company has temporarily also turned on LTE service in New York, so those at the press conference can try it out. New York will probably be on by early summer, Legere said, noting that he is not good at keeping secrets.

On the rate plans, T-Mobile has Simple Choice, which are its value plans. Customers choose the amount of high-speed data they want, along with the number of lines they want.

“That’s it,” Legere said. “Even I can remember this.”

8:52 am: Next. Contracts.

“How do you think we feel about contracts?” Legere said.

Legere calls it smartphone hell. “If you come to T-Mobile, you have signed your last contract. They are gone. No more.

“I didn’t say we are going completely into the prepaid business,” he notes. “We are just no-contract.”

T-Mobile will charge the same for prepaid and postpaid customers.

8:54 am: And he just said “shit” again. And “crap.” This guy is fun.

“If we suck this month, drop us,” he said. “But if we’re good, stay with us.”

Legere notes, “I hope I am not coming across as angry here.”

8:55 am: iPhone time.

You can get it for $99 upfront. No contract. In the stores April 12.

“It was such a huge void” in our device portfolio, Legere said. The full cost of the iPhone is $99 down and $20 a month for 24 months.

That’s still $1,000 less over two years than AT&T.

“So, who’s subsidizing what?”

The T-Mobile iPhone 5 will work in all of T-Mobile’s band of spectrum in both LTE and HSPA+.

T-Mobile’s iPhone 5 will also support HD Voice (a technology that offers better sound quality). To work, it requires both ends be on the same network (at least for now), and for both sides of the call to have an HD Voice-compatible device.

9:00 am: T-Mobile will have the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, but those devices will only work in the 1900MHz band of spectrum — T-Mobile has been working to make its network compatible with that frequency.

9:02 am: “We’re canceling our membership in the carrier club,” Legere said. (Don’t worry CTIA, I don’t think they literally are.)

“This is just the start.”

9:03 am: Now coming onstage is T-Mobile marketing chief Mike Sievert (a former Microsoft and AT&T wireless executive).

Sievert is talking about the importance of operating on the same spectrum as AT&T, allowing its customers to easily move over (and paving the way for those older iPhones to work with T-Mobile).

9:08 am: Sievert is showing all the different options with other carriers, holding up different AT&T brochures.

“This is what we’ve been inspired by,” Sievert said, saying people feel not only confused but misled by wireless carriers.

9:10 am: Additional lines, even for an iPhone, cost $10, including 500 megabytes of high-speed data. (It’s $20 more than that for unlimited data.)

9:15 am: The Galaxy S4 will come around May 1, Sievert said.

“It’s time to disrupt the status quo in this industry,” Sievert said.

9:20 am: They are on to Q&A.

Meanwhile, here are more details on the iPhone lineup that T-Mobile just announced.

9:24 am: Asked about mobile hotspot capability, tethering is included with the plans (except the unlimited one, where you get a finite amount of hotspot data).

T-Mobile notes that it presently has more bandwidth than it knows what to do with, and that its unlimited plans are really unlimited. Current Galaxy S3 customers on unlimited plans, Legere said, are using an average of three gigabytes of data.

And usage is growing. “What’s three gigs now is going to be five, is going to be 10,” Legere said.

9:30 am: The Q&A session is mostly lots of nerdy questions on using phones as hotspots, and the limits of unlimited data.

Legere promises that the unlimited plan really is unlimited, though the company does have a fair-use policy, in case someone really is abusing the network.

9:36 am: Legere points out in the audience Braxton Carter, MetroPCS CFO and the CFO-designate of the combined company when the T-Mobile-MetroPCS deal is approved.

It will be approved, despite several greedy hedge funds, Legere said.

LTE will be even better once T-Mobile is able to migrate MetroPCS customers onto T-Mobile’s network and then repurpose its spectrum.

9:38 am: And that’s it, folks. Those at the event are getting to try out various devices on T-Mobile’s LTE network.

Parent company Deutsche Telekom said in December that T-Mobile USA would start selling Apple products this year, but didn’t go into any details.

CNET reported on Monday that iPhone details will be part of T-Mobile’s big event on Tuesday.

We’re hearing T-Mobile is expected to soon have a full lineup of iPhone devices, though no announcement of a T-Mobile equipped iPad is expected on Tuesday. Even the iPhones may not be immediately available.

An Apple representative declined to comment; a T-Mobile representative said the company does not comment on “rumors or speculation.”

Scoring Apple products may seem like table stakes these days, but it is a big deal for T-Mobile, which hopes to better compete with its larger rivals thanks to an improved network, lower monthly rates and a better lineup of devices.

For the last few years, T-Mobile has had several strikes against it when competing against other major U.S. carriers.

First, the company is smaller than Sprint, Verizon and AT&T. Second, each of those rivals have now launched a high-speed LTE network.

And, then of course, there was the iPhone.

T-Mobile watched as first Verizon and then Sprint got the device while it remained on the sidelines. Without the high-demand iPhone and an LTE network, T-Mobile has been bleeding contract customers for the past several years.

But the carrier has been working hard to plug those holes. It is expected to announce an agressive LTE schedule on Tuesday. At the same time, T-Mobile has also been working to make its network more iPhone-friendly by making it compatible with the same section of 3G spectrum used by AT&T.

And the bulk of the board will be made up of folks associated with T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom.

Both exiting DT chief Rene Obermann and incoming CEO Timotheus Hottges will be on the combined company board, with Hottges serving as Chairman.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere will also be on the board, along with Deutsche Telekom executives Raphael Kubler and Thorsten Langheim.

Two current MetroPCS directors will also be on the board.

The deal has gotten approval from U.S. regulators but still needs the nod from MetroPCS shareholders.

The No. 4 U.S. carrier is in the midst of readying an LTE network for commercial launch. It says its network is ready to go in Las Vegas and Kansas City, though it has yet to make it available to customers.

Meanwhile, the company has also said it plans to shift away from subsidizing phones for contract customers in favor of its “value plans.”

It is also expected to get its first Apple devices this year, but it seems somewhat unlikely that would come at this event. T-Mobile is also working to finalize its merger with MetroPCS. Regulators have approved the deal, with a shareholder vote slated for April.

A T-Mobile representative declined to comment ahead of the event.

T-Mobile has been working to craft itself as something of an “un-carrier” ready to challenge traditional cellphone operator practices. The company also cut an unspecified number of jobs earlier this month ahead of the MetroPCS deal closure.

Obermann will take over as Ziggo’s chief executive Jan. 1, following the planned retirement of current head Bernard Dijkhuizen.

“After 15 happy years at Deutsche Telekom, I am very pleased to join Ziggo,” Obermann said in a statement. “This opportunity fulfills my strong wish as an entrepreneur to move closer to operational activities and to be involved in a fast changing world of offering products and services in media and entertainment.”

Obermann has presided over a number of big moves at the company’s U.S. subsidiary, T-Mobile USA, including the failed bid to be acquired by AT&T, as well as more recent moves to merge with MetroPCS, add Apple products to its lineup and build an LTE network.

Deutsche Telekom said that CFO Timotheus Höttges will take over as CEO, effective Jan. 1.

“By 2014, we expect to halt the decline in revenues and start growing again,” Höttges said in a statement. “Therefore, we will invest heavily primarily in our networks in Germany, but also in those in the USA, to secure the future of our company.”

He also helped recruit new T-Mobile U.S. chief John Legere after the departure of Philipp Humm last year.

In addition to building out its LTE network, taking out ads punching back at AT&T and completing its deal to merge with MetroPCS, it seems the No. 4. U.S. carrier is also prepping layoffs, though it is keeping quiet on the details.

The cutbacks are expected to hit as early as tomorrow and could result in more than 100 job losses, according to the Seattle Times, which first reported the impending layoffs.

A T-Mobile representative declined to comment.

The timing of the cuts comes just as it appears the merger deal has passed the final hurdles. MetroPCS noted on Tuesday that the federal antitrust review period has ended, and the company has slated an April 12 meeting for its shareholders to approve the deal.

Although some jobs will no doubt be cut as part of the deal, T-Mobile is expected to keep much of MetroPCS’ separate brand and large retail presence even as it works to quickly transition MetroPCS customers to devices that run on the T-Mobile network.

The No. 4 U.S. carrier said it managed to add 61,000 total customers for the quarter, as an increase in prepaid customers offset the losses in the traditional business.

Total revenue for the quarter was $4.9 billion, up sequentially from the prior quarter, but down 5.2 percent from a year ago. Operating income before certain expenses was down 15 percent sequentially, and 25 percent year on year.

T-Mobile said it is looking forward to the closure of its MetroPCS merger, expected in the first half of the year, and to the ability to start selling Apple gear sometime in 2013.

The carrier, which closed some call centers in a cost-cutting move last year, said it will continue to seek opportunities to reduce its expenses.

“T-Mobile will continue to look for opportunities to reduce overhead and other operational costs without adversely impacting its customer experience and network operations,” the company said. This includes reevaluating the company’s cost structure and eliminating initiatives that do not fit the “un-carrier” value proposition and business model.

The company said it is speeding up its effort to catch up to rivals in offering LTE, saying it expected to reach 100 million people by midyear, and more than 200 million by the end of the year. Its network is already ready in Las Vegas and Kansas City, Mo.

“T-Mobile USA has entered into an agreement with Apple to bring products to market together next year,” Deutsche Telekom said in a press statement. An Apple spokeswoman confirmed the deal but declined to offer further details.

T-Mobile has been taking a number of steps to make its U.S. network more iPhone friendly.

The carrier is investing billions in a move to first make its 3G network iPhone compatible and then to deploy a next-generation LTE network sometime next year. Along with that, the company has recently stepped up an effort to get existing iPhone owners to bring their devices over to T-Mobile’s network.

T-Mobile is also in the process of acquiring prepaid carrier MetroPCS.

“Hesitation now means playing catch-up later. We are investing in the future — with resolve and a clear strategy,” Deutsche Telekom Chairman René Obermann said Thursday in announcing a variety of moves his company is making across the globe.

T-Mobile indicated the moves in the U.S. and elsewhere will be pricey in the short term.

“We are going against the flow with our high investments in these times of economic challenges — because we have worked hard to establish sound balance sheet ratios and now have the necessary leeway,” CFO Timotheus Höttges said in a statement.

The company plans capital expenses next year of $4.7 billion in the U.S. with around $3 billion in such expenses in the two following years. That’s up from an average of $2.7 billion in capital expenses the last few years.

And while it isn’t breaking out the Apple deal in any meaningful way, getting an iPhone will no doubt add substantially to the cost T-Mobile must spend in acquiring each new customer as such devices typically come with a high subsidy for contract plans.

T-Mobile would be the last of the Big 4 U.S. carriers to get the iPhone, with Sprint, Verizon and AT&T all offering both iPads and iPhones.

Until very recently, T-Mobile had very little shot at being able to carry the iPhone. Although it uses the same type of network technology as AT&T, it uses a different band of spectrum for its higher-speed data network.

That has meant that one of two things would have had to happen in order for there to be a T-Mobile-capable iPhone. Either Apple would have to build in support for T-Mobile’s unique spectrum band, or else T-Mobile would have to rework its entire network to carry data over a more iPhone-friendly piece of spectrum.

For much of the past year, T-Mobile has been doing the latter. Several cities are already up and running, with T-Mobile promising even more progress by the end of the year.

Merrill Lynch said this week that the T-Mobile will be taking things a whole lot further with plans to finally start selling the Apple phone.

Without the iPhone, T-Mobile has been bleeding contract customers. In the past two years, not only have Verizon and Sprint started carrying the iPhone, but also a variety of regional and prepaid carriers, as well, leaving T-Mobile (and merger partner MetroPCS) among the few major carriers without an iPhone to sell.

T-Mobile has been careful not to say that it is getting the iPhone, only that it would like to sell Apple’s phone. However, it would certainly help the company justify the big network switchover if it wasn’t relegated to convincing customers to bring their own iPhone.

Though it has never had an iPhone of its own, T-Mobile has long let customers bring their own device. Even before its effort to enable high-speed data for the iPhone, T-Mobile had more than one million iPhones running on its network.

Now, as the company prepares to spend billions on an LTE network and gobble up MetroPCS, it arguably needs Apple now more than ever. And, typically, a relationship with Apple doesn’t come cheap. Companies have to spend a pretty penny on each device and, at least in the case of Sprint, agree to hefty commitments that make the iPhone an expensive, if much-needed, device.

The No. 4 U.S. carrier said it lost 492,000 contract customers in the third quarter. That’s down slightly from the 557,000 it lost in the prior quarter, but more than the 389,000 it lost a year ago. The company blamed the iPhone 5 launch in part for the continued defections.

With the addition of Sprint last year, all three larger rivals now sell Apple’s phone.

The company saw its total revenue drop 6.4 percent, to $4.9 billion, as higher device sales partly offset a larger 8.7 percent drop in service revenue.

T-Mobile is hoping to shore up its business and improve its long-term position with a pending deal to merge with MetroPCS.

Here’s a recap of the call:

6:10 am: Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann is discussing the background that led to the deal.

“With this combination, we form the leading value carrier in the U.S. market,” he said, adding that it will also give the combined company the spectrum position it needs to roll out LTE.

$6 billion to $7 billion in cost synergies.

6:11 am: Technically, it is a reverse merger, with U.S.-listed MetroPCS doing the acquiring, though Deutsche Telekom will be the controlling party, with a 74 percent stake in the company.

6:12 am: DT will nominate members of the board.

A vote of MetroPCS shareholders will take place late this year or early next year, with the deal expected to close in the first half of next year, Obermann said.

6:15 am: John Legere, newly appointed T-Mobile USA CEO, will head the combined company.

Obermann says the deal is like an accelerated IPO with additional benefits.

6:16 am: Now up, MetroPCS CEO Roger Linquist, talking about the rationale from his perspective.

Many partnerships and alternatives have been considered in recent months and years.

“We are very well aware of the opportunities in our industry,” he said.

The deal will give the combined company a better opportunity to compete on a national scale, and will give shareholders cash and a stake in the new company.

6:20 am: Lots of pleasantries so far, but no talk yet of the challenges — different technologies, business strategies, etc.

6:21 am: T-Mobile CEO John Legere now talking up the deal.

It’s important that the team be unified from Day One, Legere said, in discussing the management of the new team.

MetroPCS CFO J. Braxton Carter will be CFO of the combined company, with the current chief operating officers of each company heading that unit’s operations.

Simplicity, unlimited data and “no surprises” will be the strategy for both contract and non-contract customers.

“T-Mobile has been very busy over the last 10 months,” Legere said, referring to acquiring spectrum from AT&T after that deal fell apart, spectrum acquisition from Verizon, and a deal to lease its cellular towers.

Combined with the MetroPCS spectrum, T-Mobile has almost 40 percent more spectrum than it had a year ago.

6:27 am: The deal will give T-Mobile 42 million subscribers, up from 33 million currently, narrowing the gap between it and No. 3 player Sprint.

“I believe T-Mobile is well on its way to delivering on the promises of its Challenger strategy,” Legere said, adding that the deal will only further that.

A key component of that, Legere said, is the effort to rejigger the network to support a more commonly used (a.k.a. iPhone compatible) piece of spectrum.

T-Mobile only has about 5 percent of the business-to-business market, an area for growth. The company is also working to make sure its costs line up better with its market position.

Among other things, Legere said, the deal “removes any doubts about whether we are here to stay.”

6:30 am: For the customer, Legere said the deal will enable more bars of signal in lots of places.

6:31 am: Here’s a look at how the company’s spectrum position will improve in key areas:

6:31 am: The strategy will be to converge on a single LTE network. (The companies use vastly different network technologies today.)

T-Mobile uses GSM technology, while Metro PCS uses CDMA — the technology used by Verizon and Sprint.

Legere noted that this has been a concern.

“People think the integration will be difficult,” he said. But, no, Legere insists.

“This is not a replay of a debacle that people have seen in the past,” he said. “We will not smash together two networks with differing technologies.”

Customer losses, he insists, will be minimal. By the end of 2015, the company expects to shut down the existing MetroPCS network after transitioning all customers.

6:36 am: Over time, T-Mobile will use MetroPCS’s CDMA spectrum for LTE service.

6:37 am: As for customer benefits, Legere said MetroPCS customers will get a better network, including international roaming.

“MetroPCS customers who move out of footprint will no longer need to change carriers,” Legere said. (MetroPCS is only in a portion of the U.S., compared to the fully national carriers.)

Prepaid is a big growth area, Legere said.

Here’s a chart that shows where MetroPCS, T-Mobile and the combined company stack up in the prepaid space:

6:40 am: Legere said that T-Mobile has had an “overhang” from customer concerns about whether the company was here to stay. (T-Mobile has been shedding contract customers in recent months.)

“This is a very powerful statement about that,” Legere said.

6:41 am: Now up, MetroPCS CFO J. Braxton Carter.

The deal will allow the MetroPCS brand to expand to new areas, allow significant savings in capital spending, and other cost savings.

“We are confident in our ability to make this transition seamless,” Carter said.

Here’s a chart that illustrates, at least generally, where T-Mobile thinks it can find that $6 billion to $7 billion in cost savings:

6:45 am: Of course, Carter notes, there will be some one-time costs associated with the combination.

6:46 am: Carter notes that the company will have the kind of financial position and balance sheet it needs, along with access to capital markets. The company is hoping for a debt rating of BB to BB- (I’m no bond expert. I think that means it can get into a decent state school.)

Total debt for the combined company is projected to be 20.4 billion, with cash of $1.8 billion.

6:50 am: Prepared remarks wrapping up with Legere, and then we should be on to Q&A.

6:50 am: Another synergy? Legere says combined company will be “cooler.”

Okay, Q&A time.

6:50 am: First question is on Deutsche Telekom’s plans for continued long-term ownership, as well as how the company expects to grow revenue and earnings at the same time.

On the first point, Obermann said the U.S. market is more attractive than Europe, in particular the prepaid market.

Carter notes that one plan to grow revenue is the expansion of the MetroPCS brand to new areas.

6:57 am: T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray is now talking about the company’s network plans.

He’s talking nerdy talk about which of MetroPCS cell sites will be kept and which can be discontinued.

“Most of the macro sites can be decommissioned over a very short period of time,” he said.

LTE network was due to come on next year for T-Mobile, which Ray said is “perfect timing” for this deal.

6:59 am: MetroPCS plans to start selling HSPA+ (T-Mobile’s network) handsets available to customers on Day One after the deal closes.

7:00 am: When does T-Mobile expect to stop losing contract customers, and how important is the iPhone to that?

Legere: Clearly the postpaid (contract) business is critical. The pre-deal plan was to stabilize that in 2013 and grow the following year, Legere said.

Legere said it is the company’s goal to have a full spectrum of devices, but he didn’t comment on actually getting the iPhone. Legere did highlight the company’s bring-your-own iPhone strategy.

Also, T-Mobile will launch LTE in an industry-standard piece of spectrum. (One of the issues in getting an iPhone has been that T-Mobile has been operating in a relatively unique band of spectrum.)

7:05 am: Legere said the company is well aware of both its strengths and its challenges. “We know why we have had difficulties.”

Legere said that the company will eventually have a better LTE experience than its rivals, something it couldn’t always say. So much so, that he said at some point in time it expects to be able to “taunt” rivals over the experience.

Legere said LTE network will be a “smoking differentiator” between T-mobile and its competitors.

7:11 am: One question didn’t come through clearly. Executives quipped that clearly the analyst wasn’t using a T-Mobile or MetroPCS phone.

7:12 am: By the way, here’s a map of the company’s relative coverage areas:

7:15 am: Apparently, the question that got lost was about how the company plans to go from decreasing revenue to annual growth of 3 percent to 5 percent.

Legere highlighted the business-to-business area and growth in so-called MVNOs (companies that sell their own service using T-Mobile’s network).

And the same caller gets dropped again.

7:17 am: Is the sale of an iPhone baked into the plans?

Legere: I really just want to talk about this deal, and not any other active or speculated discussions. “I apologize, but that’ll have to do for today.”

7:19 am: Any breakup fees?

There is a breakup fee if either party drops the deal. One way, it is a $250 million fee, and the other is $150 million, but it wasn’t totally clear which way was which.

Legere: Both parties here are extremely committed.

7:19 am: And that’s it.

Under the terms of the deal, MetroPCS shareholders will get $1.5 billion in cash and a 26 percent stake in the combined company, while Deutsche Telekom will own the remaining 74 percent.

The deal requires regulatory approval as well as a nod from MetroPCS shareholders, and is expected to close in the first half of 2013.

“We are committed to creating a sustainable and financially viable national challenger in the U.S., and we believe this combination helps us deliver on that commitment,” Deutsche Telekom CEO René Obermann said in a statement.

Although the deal would help strengthen T-Mobile’s business, the combined company will still lag far behind market leaders AT&T and Verizon Wireless in terms of spectrum holdings and number of subscribers.

Additionally, the two companies have considerably different business strategies and underlying technologies, issues that could complicate integration.

T-Mobile discussed the deal further on a conference call. Here’s a recap of that call..

The move further consolidates the U.S. wireless industry, but in a way that is likely to be well received by regulators, who last year shot down T-Mobile’s $39 billion deal to be acquired by AT&T Inc. to avoid reducing the ranks of national carriers from four to three.

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