Ina Fried

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Interview: T-Mobile CEO Says No Second AT&T Deal Out There

After failing to sell itself to AT&T, T-Mobile is prepared to go it alone, says CEO Philipp Humm.

“There is no second AT&T deal around,” Humm told AllThingsD in an interview on Tuesday.

On the plus side, Humm noted that T-Mobile got some very important things from AT&T when the deal fell apart, including a huge chunk of cash, valuable spectrum and a data-roaming agreement.

That said, it isn’t totally clear how much of those billions parent Deutsche Telekom is willing to invest in a U.S. operation it had been looking to unload. Humm said the bosses in Germany do get the need to invest in the business, with no merger partner in sight.

Before the AT&T deal, the company had staked out a position as a spunky challenger to the Big Three U.S. carriers, though it softened its position some when it thought it would soon be part of AT&T.

Humm said the company is still ironing out its plans in the wake of the merger’s derailment.

“Now it’s really a question about restarting the business,” Humm said. “We will give you more details, probably by the end of the quarter. We are right now finalizing our plans.”

I’ll have much more in a bit from my interview with Humm, including his thoughts on LTE, shared data plans and why he isn’t giving up on having the iPhone at some point.

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There was a worry before I started this that I was going to burn every bridge I had. But I realize now that there are some bridges that are worth burning.

— Valleywag editor Sam Biddle