Report: T-Mobile parent company says it has no backup plan for deal with AT&T

Deutsche Telekom, the German parent company of T-Mobile, is pushing back against a Wall Street Journal story that it is planning a joint venture with AT&T if their deal collapses, Bloomberg reports.

On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Deutsche Telekom and AT&T have discussed forming a joint venture to pool their wireless assets. A joint venture could address both companies' network restraints while avoiding the Justice Department's concerns that a complete merger would illegally reduce competition.

But a spokesman for Deutsche Telekom told Bloomberg on Thursday that the companies are still trying to convince regulators to approve the $39 billion deal.

“We have always said there is no Plan B,” Deutsche Telekom spokesman Philipp Kornstaedt told Bloomberg. He did not comment on the specifics of the Wall Street Journal article.