T-Mobile is transitioning its internal network away from VMware software following a legal battle with Broadcom over extended support agreements. According to court documents reported by The Register, T-Mobile operates VMware on at least 303,000 CPU cores and secured a court injunction to force Broadcom to provide support beyond August 2025 to allow for a gradual migration.
Why is T-Mobile in a legal dispute with Broadcom?
The conflict stems from Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware in 2023 and its subsequent overhaul of the company’s licensing model. Broadcom ended the sale of perpetual licenses and standalone support deals, consolidating over 150 products into two subscription-only bundles, primarily the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) private cloud suite.
T-Mobile had previously struck a deal with VMware in August 2023 for perpetual licenses and two years of support, with an option for a third year. When T-Mobile attempted to exercise the option for extended support, Broadcom declined. Broadcom argued in court that it cannot support products that no longer exist in its current catalog and stated that subscription models are now the industry standard.
T-Mobile’s reliance on the software is extensive. In court hearings, counsel for the carrier described the VMware implementation as the “base of the entire internal network” and the hosting environment for 1,000 different applications.
What were the terms of the court injunction?
Jennifer G. Shecter granted an injunction requiring Broadcom to offer support to T-Mobile beyond August 2025. To obtain this order, the court required T-Mobile to pay $5.28 million and post a $500,000 undertaking. This injunction is set to expire on August 3, 2026.
Broadcom has since sought damages, claiming the injunction prevented the company from securing a new, more lucrative deal with the carrier. T-Mobile rejected this argument, noting that the two companies continued to negotiate new arrangements even after the injunction was issued.
How do the support costs compare?
Negotiations over the cost of extended support revealed a significant gap between the two companies’ valuations of the service. T-Mobile proposed a $20 million deal for two additional years of support to facilitate its transition away from the platform.
Broadcom countered with a proposal to charge $24 million for support covering six specific products. Broadcom claimed this price point was necessary to fund over 20 staff members required to support T-Mobile. T-Mobile disputed this requirement, pointing to a low volume of actual support calls to argue that such staffing levels were unjustified.
| Party | Proposed Support Cost | Justification/Goal |
|---|---|---|
| T-Mobile | $20 Million | Secure a deliberate transition away from VMware |
| Broadcom | $24 Million | Cover 20 dedicated support staff for six products |
How does this case differ from other VMware customers?
T-Mobile is not the only enterprise to clash with Broadcom over these changes. AT&T and Tesco also sought extended support after Broadcom declined their requests. While AT&T reached a confidential settlement, Tesco has pursued the matter in court.
Shecter, who also presided over the AT&T case, stated during an October 2025 hearing that she thinks T-Mobile’s case is stronger than AT&T’s. Broadcom’s counsel argued that T-Mobile and AT&T are outliers, claiming thousands of other customers have already migrated to the VCF subscription model. Broadcom cited the UK’s Nationwide Building Society as an example of a customer that signed up for VCF.
Shecter questioned the “outlier” narrative, suggesting that other customers might simply be smaller in scale or find the transition easier, making litigation less worthwhile for them.
What happens next for T-Mobile’s infrastructure?
T-Mobile’s primary goal is a complete migration away from VMware to avoid future dependency on Broadcom’s subscription terms. However, the urgency has increased as the current injunction expires in August 2026. If a new agreement is not reached or the migration is not completed by that date, T-Mobile faces the risk of running its core internal network without official vendor support.
Broadcom maintains that customers moving to VCF subscriptions benefit from more efficient infrastructure and improved business performance, citing VMware’s revenue growth as evidence that the market accepts the new strategy.