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T-Mobile Closes Mint Mobile Deal, Promises to Keep $15 Monthly Plan Option

Mint is officially now part of T-Mobile's assortment of brands.

Eli Blumenthal Senior Editor
Eli Blumenthal is a senior editor at CNET with a particular focus on covering the latest in the ever-changing worlds of telecom, streaming and sports. He previously worked as a technology reporter at USA Today.
Expertise 5G | Mobile networks | Wireless carriers | Phones | Tablets | Streaming devices | Streaming platforms | Mobile | Console gaming
Eli Blumenthal
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It took longer than expected, but T-Mobile has completed its purchase of prepaid provider Mint Mobile. After gaining approval from the Federal Communications Commission last week, T-Mobile announced on Wednesday that it has closed the acquisition of Mint's parent company, Ka'ena Corporation. 

First announced in March of last year, T-Mobile faced some challenges getting the purchase approved by regulators. As part of its concessions, the carrier agreed to unlock devices purchased on Mint Mobile and its sister company Ultra Mobile after 60 days, including devices purchased before T-Mobile acquired the companies and those purchased going forward.

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Mint Mobile's part owner and spokesman Ryan Reynolds will continue to hang around in a "creative role on behalf of Mint," as previously announced. Reynolds took to social media on Wednesday to share a video marking the closure of the deal.

Given that Mint Mobile and Ultra Mobile (as well as Plum, a wireless wholesaler also owned by Ka'ena) were already running on T-Mobile's network, users of the services shouldn't see any real changes to coverage or performance and devices should continue to function normally. 

The carrier also reiterated on Wednesday that it plans to keep Mint Mobile's $15 per month plan as an option going forward for both new and existing customers, though it's unclear if it will guarantee a minimum allotment of the 5GB of high-speed data that Mint currently offers. T-Mobile also says it will "soon" offer Mint Mobile users 3GB of high-speed data when roaming in Canada, and an option for faster roaming in Mexico for Ultra Mobile users. 

Both Mint and Ultra users will also soon be able to take advantage of T-Mobile's Scam Screener feature that will display "scam likely" on the caller IDs of their phones when "sketchy calls" come in. Among the other promises T-Mobile is making, it says that Mint Mobile's new customer offer of $15 per month for unlimited data for three months will remain for the remainder of 2024.

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