T-Mobile and their often-boisterous CEO, John Legere, seem to be constantly in the news, some of it good and some, not so good, but he keeps voicing his opinion and the virtues of T-Mobile – a good thing, since part of his job is to bring more customers to T-Mobile. He has successfully accomplished that and during the second quarter signed up a net gain of 688,000 postpaid customers. This upward swing started with Phase I and Phase II of their program. Legere has not said what the final Phase III is exactly, but he claims it, “Will address some industry practices that drive people nuts and will convert any non-believers left.”
Back in March, T-Mobile announced themselves as the “Un-Carrier,” with no two-year service contracts to sign. Postpaid customers still pay a monthly fee for their services, but they are not required to sign up for a two-year contract or commitment.
Then for Phase II, they launch their new JUMP! program, allowing users to upgrade their device twice during a 12-month period, where users can chose to pay to upgrade before the device they have is paid off.
Now, speculation surrounds the final Phase III, expected to be announced later this year, possibly around Halloween (how appropriate). No one knows for sure what Legere has up his sleeve, but one analyst with Normura, Adam Ilkowitz, says:
T-Mobile is having the most success with single-line customers, who clearly get a better value for their money than being customers of Verizon or AT&T,” Ilkowitz said:
The third ‘Uncarrier’ event from T-Mobile could focus on data plans for tablets or easing family plan transitions.
It could also involve offering new options for users with multiple devices. John Legere has described Phase III as:
Solving another customer pain point…we’ll continue to disrupt but we’ll do it smartly and profitability.
With Halloween just around the corner we will not have to wait long to see the final phase of T-Mobile’s service upgrades. They have already forecasted another 600,000 subscribers will join their fold by the end of 2013, while subscriber growth has slowed down at both Verizon and AT&T, as they both missed second quarter profit estimates.
Let us know if you have jumped from Verizon or AT&T to T-Mobile, or plan to when your contract (such a dirty word) is up.