Facebook buys mobile start-up Snaptu, AT&T reveals $US39 billion bid for T-Mobile

It’s been a hot weekend for acquisitions in the United States, with social networking giant Facebook announcing it will acquire British mobile apps developer Snaptu for $US70 million.

There was also a shake-up in the mobile sector, as telco giant AT&T announced it will pay a massive $US39 billion for competitor T-Mobile.

Snaptu, a British start-up founded in 2007, confirmed yesterday it had been purchased by Facebook for an unspecified amount, although reports from TechCrunch and some Israeli newspapers apparently report the deal was made for between $US60-70 million

The company is based in Britain but also has offices in Tel Aviv and California. Last year it raised $US6 million in venture capital funding.

Snaptu offers a mobile solution that attempts to give owners of regular handsets a “smartphone-like” experience when using apps for social networks. When a user downloads the Snaptu platform onto their handset, they have access to a range of services including, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

The acquisition not only highlights how importantly Facebook values its mobile solutions, but also how handsets apart from smartphones still control a significant portion of the telecommunications market.

Snaptu said in a statement it was the company’s existing relationship with Facebook that lead to the acquisition.

“Earlier this year, we announced the launch of a new Facebook mobile application to give people a great mobile experience on a broad range of feature phones.”

“We soon decided that working as part of the Facebook team offered the best opportunity to keep accelerating the pace of our product development. And joining Facebook means we can make an even bigger impact on the world.”

Facebook also said in a statement the company is “run by a highly innovative collection of engineers and entrepreneurs, who we already work closely with”.

The acquisition is set to close in a few weeks, and is Facebook’s fourth for the year.

Meanwhile, telco giant AT&T has announced it will pay $US39 billion to Deutsche Telekom for competitor T-Mobile, in one of the largest moves within the American telco market in years.

Such a deal would make AT&T the largest wireless services provider in the United States, and vastly improve services for rural users, with the company saying it would be able to expand its 4G network to 95% of the population.

T-Mobile is the fourth-largest wireless provider in the US with over 30 million customers. It recorded revenue of over $US21 billion in 2010.

The company was acquired by Deutsche Telekom back in 2001, when it was still using the VoiceStream brand.

In a statement, AT&T said that not only would the deal ensure millions of subscribers have access to better services, but that the market would still remain one of the “most fiercely competitive markets in the world”.

“The US is one of the few countries in the world where a large majority of consumers can choose from five or more wireless providers in their local market. For example, in 18 of the top 20 US local markets, there are five or more providers.”

But already, there are some fears the move could disrupt the market and increase prices. Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin told Mashable there would be good news, and bad news for both subscribers and telco companies.

“The bad news: the cost of that service won’t come down nearly as fast as customers would like, since AT&T and Verizon Wireless combined would own nearly three out of every four wireless subscriptions in the US,” he said.

“While clearly troublesome for Sprint and other mobile smaller mobile competitors, it’s also bad news for cable operators, whose incipient mobility products will suffer in comparison to what AT&T and Verizon can offer.”

The deal will include a cash payment of $US25 billion. The deal is expected to be completed within 12 months.