AT&T and Deutsche Telekom have announced today that they have struck an agreement for AT&T to acquire T-Mobile USA for an astounding $39 billion. Deutsche Telekom will be getting an 8% ownership of AT&T. With this acquisition, AT&T is going to be the largest wireless carrier in the United States by a very large margin and they may soon face some issues with the government. In addition, there would only be three major U.S. carriers: AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint.

The benefits? Users will be able to receive AT&T's fast 4G LTE network that has already begun rolling out. Plus, T-Mobile users that choose to stick with AT&T once the transition is complete will have access to Apple's iPhone, currently only available on AT&T and Verizon.

Update (3:03p ET): It's worth noting that current models of the iPhone would actually only work on EDGE, rather than 3G when being used in T-Mobile's areas of the network because of its incompatibility with T-Mobile's 3G GSM.

via All Things D