T-Mobile appears to be quitting VMware – and fighting a very familiar battle for support rights on the way out

virtualization

303,000 cores that power internal networks headed out the door

Telco giant T-Mobile appears to be transitioning away from VMware and fighting a court battle for support it says Broadcom is bound to provide, according to court documents seen by The Register.

The dispute relates to a deal T-Mobile struck with VMware in August 2023, which saw the telco acquire perpetual licenses and two years of support for some software, plus the option for a further year of support.

When Broadcom acquired VMware in 2023, it stopped selling perpetual licenses and standalone support deals for customers with those licenses. Broadcom also reduced the virtualization giant’s product range from over 150 products to two subscription-only bundles. Broadcom now mostly sells its Cloud Foundation (VCF) private cloud suite.

Customers including AT&T and Tesco tried to exercise their right to extended support, but Broadcom declined to do so. AT&T settled on confidential terms. Tesco is pursuing the matter in the courts.

When customers exercise their option for extended support, Broadcom argues it can’t deliver because the products covered by the contract don’t exist anymore, its contracts allow it to deny support for dead products, and subscriptions are now the industry standard.

T-Mobile started using VMware’s products in 2008 and, per court documents, runs it on at least 303,000 CPU cores. In one hearing, the carrier’s counsel described T-Mobile’s VMware implementation as “the base of the entire internal network” and “the place where 1,000 applications reside.”

Court documents allege that in 2024 Broadcom notified T-Mobile it would not renew support after the initial two-year deal expired in 2025. The two parties kept talking about possible new arrangements. T-Mobile also sought an injunction that would compel Broadcom to provide extended support.

Broadcom opposed the injunction, arguing that T-Mobile deliberately waited too long to seek it.

At one point T-Mobile suggested a $20 million deal for another two years of support. An affirmation filed last week by T-Mobile vice president of technology Kevin Luu says the carrier sought that arrangement “to be able to complete T-Mobile’s transition away from VMware at a more deliberate pace.”

The court eventually granted the injunction forcing Broadcom to offer support beyond August 2025, but required T-Mobile to pay $5.28 million and post a $500,000 undertaking. Broadcom continued to provide support but also sought damages on grounds that the injunction meant it missed out on a new deal with T-Mobile. The telco has rubbished that argument in part because the two parties were still talking about a new deal.

Broadcom later proposed to charge $24 million for extended support covering six products, a sum it said would cover over 20 staff needed to support T-Mobile.

The carrier fired back by pointing out that it has made just two support calls in 2026, which hardly justifies such a massive staff and expense.

The matter is now somewhat urgent because the injunction expires on August 3, 2026, so T-Mobile may soon be unable to get support for its very substantial VMware estate. We’ve asked the carrier how it will cope if it can’t get support but haven’t received a response at the time of writing.

One fascinating wrinkle in the case is that the presiding judge, The Honorable Jennifer G. Shecter, also heard the case between VMware and AT&T.

The parties reached a confidential settlement in that case, but in in an October 2025 hearing Shecter said she thinks T-Mobile’s case is stronger than AT&T’s.

“I think this case is even more compelling and to be sure I was very compelled both in AT&T and very convinced,” she said.

VMware’s counsel argued that the cases differ because AT&T acted quickly, but T-Mobile waited many months before seeking extended support and an injunction.

“Just to give some perspective, there are 10,000 customers. Thousands upon thousands have successfully migrated to subscription,” VMware’s counsel argued. “T-Mobile is the outlier here that is in litigation. AT&T is the other outlier. Thousands upon thousands of customers have already transferred under these sorts of provisions and accepted and understood that end of availability applies.”

VMware last week named one of those customers that signed up for VCF: the UK’s Nationwide Building Society.

But Judge Schecter was not convinced by the argument that T-Mobile and AT&T are outliers, suggesting that some customers “don’t just want to fight Broadcom. I don't know. Or it's not worth it and maybe they're smaller scale and transitioning is easier.”

Broadcom argues that customers who move to VCF subscriptions emerge with a more efficient infrastructure that can help to improve overall business performance, and points to strong revenue growth for VMware as evidence its strategy is appreciated and working. ®