CEO Mike Sievert chooses worst possible time to brag about T-Mobile's 5G supremacy
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The thing all T-Mobile customers feared would happen has been made official earlier today, but while CEO Mike Sievert has yet to comment on the dreaded $2 to $5 monthly price hikes many will soon face, the man in charge of the "Un-carrier's" destiny made a public appearance on Tuesday likely to cause (even more) uproar.
Instead of trying to put subscribers angry with the rapidly rising costs of their wireless service at ease in any way or addressing the many lawsuits and regulatory complaints filed by competitors, partners, and even customers of competitors recently, Sievert focused almost entirely on his company's financial and technological achievements at a Boston conference.
Unsurprisingly, Magenta's skipper did also find a little time to throw a jab or two in the direction of its arch-rivals, pointing out that their spectrum expenses and network expansions of the last year or so haven't done much to change the industry status quo in terms of either speeds or coverage.
Many good points, but is this really the best time to make them?
That's what a lot of T-Mobile users are likely to wonder when hearing the topics tackled by Mike Sievert and the braggadocious tone adopted in this latest public appearance.
For the umpteenth time since 2020's mega-merger with Sprint and the incredibly fast 5G network rollout that ensued, Sievert is trumpeting the "New T-Mobile's" supremacy over Verizon and AT&T, pointing the finger specifically at Big Red for splashing the cash on an "awful lot" of C-band spectrum and failing to make a difference.
T-Mobile's 5G speed advantage over Verizon and AT&T is pretty massive and very well-documented.
In fact, the T-Mo commander-in-chief claims his company's 5G lead has actually grown "a little bit in the last couple of quarters", according to Fierce Network. That's not an entirely substantiated statement if we look at a few recent independent mobile experience studies, which show that Magenta's 5G domination is essentially as safe as ever, but also that Verizon and AT&T are making small yet important gains of their own in both the speed and availability fields.
That's not stopping Sievert from proclaiming "what we've accomplished is building the world's best 5G network", which is certainly a little exaggerated even if some third-party research does seem to support the bombastic label (in part).
Jumping from "dead last in the 4G LTE era to first and best in the 5G era" is described as a "wild run" by the man who took over from John Legere in 2020, which feels like a fair and accurate assessment of T-Mobile's huge progress over these past four years. But you once again have to wonder if perhaps Magenta's CEO has more important (and current) topics to address before customers start to flock to slower but also cheaper industry rivals.
More 5G network improvements on the horizon
If you care more about your speeds than your prices (or your data privacy), Mike Sievert has some very good forward-looking news to share as well. Apparently, T-Mobile's nation-leading 5G signal will continue to be improved "in the rest of '24 and '25" with the help of 4G LTE spectrum that's essentially sitting unused at the moment.
Because 75 percent of the operator's customers already have 5G phones (which is a pretty mind-blowing number), T-Mo's "massive" LTE capabilities will be "refarmed" with the purpose of further boosting your average speeds and 5G signal strength.
Consequently, Sievert is confident that T-Mobile will not only continue to offer the best 5G network by far in the US, but also expand its lead over Verizon and AT&T even further in the next year... and beyond. That's not necessarily good news for cost-conscious users who fear all these expansions and progresses will come with more price hikes as competition may continue to weaken, but that's just how things are sometimes in the wireless industry.
Things that are NOT allowed: