- The “un-carrier” is looking a lot more like other carriers
- Analysts say it’s a reflection of where T-Mobile is in its life cycle – a more mature company than it was five or six years ago
- The company claims it still offers the best value in wireless
T-Mobile deserves credit for rolling out edgy “un-carrier” moves over the years, but lately, it seems to be going backwards.
Take the recent rollout of the Experience More and Experience Beyond plans. They’re advertised as $5 less per line than previous Go5G plans. But T-Mobile is no longer offering these new plans with “taxes and fees included,” which was an “un-carrier” move that T-Mobile launched in 2017.
“The un-carrier spirit has been slowly disappearing,” said Roger Entner, founder of Recon Analytics. “The un-carrier is dying a slow death and still waiting for an EMT.”
The fact is T-Mobile is no longer a scrappy upstart. It’s one of the “Big 3,” competing as a peer with Verizon and AT&T. In fact, it’s right in the middle if you measure size by number of postpaid phone subscribers, and T-Mobile will gain even more customers assuming regulators approve its acquisition of UScellular’s 4 million customers.
“T-Mobile has either stopped doing un-carrier moves or it has greatly slowed the pace,” said Jeff Moore, principal of Wave7 Research, noting that this Wikipedia page lists 14 un-carrier moves. Only one “un-carrier” event has occurred since 2017 and none have occurred in nearly five years. “It seems like T-Mobile has lost its un-carrier fastball.”
Here’s what T-Mobile says
In a statement provided to Fierce, a T-Mobile spokesperson said it’s no longer pitching its plans with “taxes and fees included” because since launching those plans, “we’ve gotten feedback that it’s confusing and makes it more challenging to compare plans across providers. And just as we’ve always done as the Un-carrier, we’re listening and taking action to ensure it’s super easy to see all the value and savings you get with T-Mobile.”
T-Mobile insists is new Experience plans are purpose-built to make it simple for people to find the best plan that suits their needs – and that they deliver the most value in wireless with over $200 in "extras" per line a month on Experience Beyond.
And according to T-Mobile, it’s not all about “un-carrier” moves. “While we may not call everything we do Un-carrier moves, we continue to listen to customers, solve pain points and find ways to give them the best value and experience in wireless. That’s what the Un-carrier has always been about, and that hasn’t changed,” the spokesperson said.
Value beyond pricing
Not everyone thinks T-Mobile is losing its edge. IDC analyst Jason Leigh said the “un-carrier” label might be wearing thin if you limit the label to pricing. However, T-Mobile for a long time has been trying to evolve “un-carrier” branding beyond price and adding value beyond their role as a carrier, he said. Streaming via Netflix on Us is one example where it branched outside traditional mobile service and now every carrier seems to offer some, if not multiple, streaming service options.
“T-Mobile is still trying to push the envelope beyond the typical carrier role. Now some plans get free texting and Wi-Fi on some flights. The giveaways and discounts available from T-Mobile Tuesdays and their T-Life app (hotel discounts, VIP access) are arguably all beyond the bounds of the traditional carrier purview and can be classified as ‘un-carrier,’” Leigh said. “Admittedly, Verizon does some of the same via its Verizon Access program, though they don’t promote it as heavily as T-Mobile does.”
5G network advantage
T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert likes to talk about how T-Mobile offers the “best value” and the “best network,” so consumers no longer need to make the choice of one or the other. While some analysts suggest its “best value” claim is eroding, they largely agree that it legitimately offers the best 5G coverage – much to the detriment of Verizon, which for years was the one screaming the loudest about “best network.”
“The Verizon of today – they might not like to hear it – but they used to be the No. 1 premiere network leadership [with] technical advances, every new development. Verizon was the one who did it. That’s now T-Mobile,” Entner said during his weekly podcast.
In rural America, T-Mobile is gaining ground, in part due to that better 5G network coverage and the closing conditions attached to its merger with Sprint. T-Mobile in 2020 pledged to deploy 5G service to cover 97% of the American people within three years of closure of the Sprint deal and to reach 99% of all Americans within six years.
Because T-Mobile historically hasn’t had much, if any, market share in the government, enterprise and rural markets, it’s making inroads in those segments. “T-Mobile is still playing the role of the feisty upstart in the enterprise market as well as the rural market,” Moore said.
What will the next iteration of T-Mobile look like?
Entner said the pace of “un-carrier” moves took a nosedive when former CEO John Legere left in April 2020 and current CEO Sievert took over. Sievert oversaw the integration of Sprint and since then, T-Mobile has become a Wall Street darling, typically (though not always) beating quarterly growth expectations and setting a high bar on financial metrics.
“The company continues to do great things,” Entner said. “I would say what John Legere was for T-Mobile what Steve Jobs was for Apple. And Mike Sievert for T-Mobile is what Tim Cook is for Apple.”
Sievert’s contract ends in 2028. He’s expected to be succeeded by Srinivasan Gopalan, who joined T-Mobile as chief operating officer in March after various leadership roles in the industry, including as the head of parent Deutsche Telekom's German business. Gopalan sat next to Sievert during the Q1 earnings call last month.
What will Gopalan’s leadership style bring? Given his experience with operators internationally, we can only surmise that it will be a bit more “carrier” than “un-carrier.”