By Mike Robuck
T-Mobile US CEO Mike Sievert didn’t hold back on 1 April when proclaiming his company’s achievements on the two-year anniversary of its US$26 billion deal to buy Sprint.
In a blog post, Sievert highlighted the progress the “uncarrier” has made since the merger, including shares that are up by 50 per cent since the deal closed on April 1, 2020. He also bragged that T-Mobile had 1.2 million new postpaid account net additions in 2021.
Sievert stated that more than 40 per cent of T-Mobile US’ postpaid phone customers have a 5G device, and that 5G network traffic already accounted for roughly half of all traffic on its network.
“In the space of 12 months, our 5G traffic has increased 6x while average download speeds have doubled,” Sievert wrote.
Sievert noted 2021 was the company’s best growth year ever with 5.5 million new postpaid lines added.
Former CEO John Legere typically positioned T-Mobile as the underdog when compared to AT&T and Verizon, and he was known for bashing the competition on earnings calls. After Legere left in 2019, Sievert toned down the bluster to some degree, but he did say in Friday’s blog that T-Mobile was ahead of the competition two years ago and will still be ahead of them two years from now.
He credited the combination of T-Mobile US’ low-band and mmWave spectrum along with Sprint’s mid-band frequencies as the primary reason it had a head start over the competition.
“They were forced to invest more in spectrum and deployment, placing early bets on mmWave, and then pivoting to focus on mid-band … all to try and chase our lead. And they’re still chasing,” Sievert wrote.
There have been a few speeds bumps over the past two years, including T-Mobile US throwing in the towel on its live streaming service after less than six months last year.
While Sievert said T-Mobile US was entering into a “new era of uncarrier,” it faces increased competition from cable MVNOs, including Charter Communications and Comcast, and broader roll-outs of 5G by AT&T and Verizon than it did two years ago.
