Over the last few weeks, we have seen several T-Mobile reps call it quits because of the T-Life app. These aren’t new hires who became overwhelmed by the job, but are salesmen and women who have had enough with the pressure they face from having to meet certain goals each month. Add to that the new requirement put in place by T-Mobile that forces reps to use the T-Life app to handle a certain percentage of the transactions they handle. If a rep fails to meet that target, he could be let go.
T-Mobile has started the process of transitioning to an all-digital wireless provider
One rep who just walked out posted his farewell on social media. “Resigned after 8.5 years of hard work and dedication to this company. TMO isn’t a career anymore, but a shitty job with glorified benefits to keep you around, which most companies offer nowadays. T-Life push is unreal for the front-line employees. Another way of taking money from my reps. As a manager, I’ve heard things about how it’s going to get worse.”
Another former rep wrote, “I quit after 6 years because of T-Life as well. I ran a successful store, had a great team, and worked for the best market manager I’ve ever met. It still wasn’t enough after T-Life. T-Life was created to thin the ranks; mission accomplished. But it’s only the good people leaving.”
It’s quite obvious what is going to happen to T-Mobile. The current T-Life push is forcing more customers to use T-Life, which means they get used to turning to the app to manage their accounts, upgrade their phones, and add new lines. Putting pressure on the reps results in more of them leaving, and eventually the company will sell off stores and axe the remaining sales crew. The rumors about the imminent departure of CEO Mike Sievert might also play into this as well.
Even if Sievert leaves, he would depart with his T-Mobile shares. The CEO recently sold 22,500 shares for an approximate value of $5.63 million based on a current share price of $250. The executive now owns 336,222 shares worth roughly $84 million. Should T-Mobile transition into a digital carrier, you could see its stock rise even more, as profits should rise without the stores and reps’ commissions creating a huge overhead.
T-Mobile would become all-digital, similar to Verizon’s Visible. There is a big difference. T-Mobile will still own all of its wireless infrastructure, including spectrum and cell towers. Visible, on the other hand, is an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) without a wireless network infrastructure. Visible buys its wireless service wholesale from parent company Verizon and sells it to the public.
T-Mobile has created quite a legacy for itself over the last few years
There has been no official pronouncement that T-Mobile is going all-digital but the tell-tale signs are there. The carrier has had an amazing run since 2012, when John Legere was named CEO. Legere turned T-Mobile into the nation’s most innovative and fastest-growing wireless provider. T-Mobile got rid of subsidized phones and two-year contracts, created the Un-carrier name to set it apart from AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon, and offered perks such as free Netflix, a reward program titled T-Mobile Tuesday, and more.
Under Legere, T-Mobile made a big decision that still resonates to this day. Unlike Verizon and AT&T, T-Mobile decided to use mid-band spectrum to build out its 5G network. Verizon and AT&T went for the faster mmWave airwaves but didn’t consider that high-band signals travel only short distances. T-Mobile coveted Sprint’s hoard of 2.5GHz spectrum for its 5G build out, which led to the $26.5 billion acquisition of Sprint. T-Mobile‘s decision to go with mid-band helped it become the early U.S. leader in 5G and led Verizon and AT&T to spend billions on mid-band spectrum in the C-band.
Now it seems that T-Mobile is becoming something that is unrecognizable, even to someone who has followed the carrier over the last 16 years.
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