The brash CEO of insurgent wireless carrier T-Mobile, John Legere, has released his list of New Year’s predictions and resolutions, and, not surprisingly, it’s an entertaining — and at times prescient — read.
Perhaps his biggest prediction is the one that says T-Mobile will — with certainty — surpass Sprint as the third largest wireless carrier in the U.S.
“This summer, I said we’d blow by Sprint by the end of 2014 to become the No. 3 wireless company in the U.S….we won’t know where things stand until we get the final score after we both report Q4 earnings, but whether it is now — or soon — I’m telling you, it’s a done deal!” wrote Legere in his newly released predictions for 2015.
Sprint has been undergoing a technical, fiscal, and organizational makeover since, well, seemingly forever, and has continued to look for ways to cut prices and lure customers over from market leaders AT&T and Verizon. T-Mobile, with its “Un-carrier” campaign, has been decidedly more effective at attracting users (if not necessarily surprising and delighting them with its network once they’re onboard).
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Legere says he and his company will renew its campaign against Big Telco holdovers AT&T and Verizon in the new year. Even without stealing customers from Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T, Legere says his company still has a huge addressable market.
“For instance… Did you know like a quarter of the people in this country don’t yet have a smartphone, and a quarter of households don’t have Internet access? They need some Un-carrier attention! And there are countless small and mid-sized businesses out there we can help,” the CEO said.
“There’s still a shit-ton of important work to do,” Legere added, in his signature profanity-laced style. The profanity is usually aimed at his Big Telco competitors, and he does have some choice words for them in his new year’s predictions.
“The other guys will keep trying to fake their way through — with their eye on their own bottom line — but we will keep shaking things up and forcing change. Unfortunately, I don’t see any real behavior changes coming from the carriers in the year ahead and I’d be missing an opportunity to keep the pressure on them if I didn’t remind you of the pathetic efforts these guys have made to keep with us so far.”
Legere also says he has some new year’s resolutions. These are what you might imagine — keep listening to customers, keep “solving pain points,” etc., etc.
In its latest “un-carrier” move, T-Mobile announced that its customers could start rolling over their unused data allotments to be used later on. Other carriers simply cancel out any unused data at the end of every month. (Legere predicts that AT&T will launch a “weak” imitation of T-Mobile’s Data Stash program in 2015 that offers a lot in the large print but takes most of the goodness back in the small print. He’s almost certainly right on this one.)
Here’s Legere’s last 2015 resolution: “And, finally, I’m recommitting myself to making life hell for the old carriers who make life hell for their customers. Because it gives me joy.”
You go, John. Happy New Year.
You can see Legere’s full predictions on such topics as social media, popular devices, network neutrality, Big Telco CEOs, and the creepy John Legere doll here. It’s an entertaining read.
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