T-Mobile filed a lawsuit in New York in August 2025 seeking a court declaration that Broadcom must continue supporting its VMware perpetual licenses. The telecommunications company operates tens of thousands of virtual machines across approximately 303,140 CPU cores running VMware software and is in the process of migrating away from the platform, though it cited significant technical and time-consuming challenges in moving over 1,000 applications.
T-Mobile purchased perpetual VMware licenses in 2023 with two years of included support and an option to extend for a third year. After Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, the company discontinued sales of perpetual licenses in favor of subscription models and began bundling products into more expensive package offerings. When T-Mobile attempted to renew support for an additional year at a cost of $5,288,398.45, Broadcom declined, stating it had ended availability of all perpetual products including renewal options for perpetual support.
A judge granted T-Mobile a temporary injunction allowing it to receive support services from October 2025 through August 3, 2026, in exchange for $5.28 million plus a $500,000 undertaking. At one point during negotiations, T-Mobile offered $20 million for two years of updates and support services, citing litigation costs and concerns about network security and business continuity. Broadcom countered that it has spent $24 million providing support for six VMware products and assigned three dedicated account managers to T-Mobile, though T-Mobile stated it does not use three of the products and has opened only two service cases this year.
Broadcom has argued that T-Mobile’s situation is an outlier, noting that thousands of other customers have successfully transitioned to subscription models. The case parallels a privately settled dispute with AT&T and an ongoing lawsuit involving retailer Tesco. Neither company has made public statements regarding the litigation.
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
Article summary produced by Claude AI