Of all the CEOs in the wireless industry, there are few that provide the level of entertainment offered up by our very own John Legere. If he’s not dressing as Santa and putting pieces of coal in the other carriers’ stockings, he’s teasing the upcoming announcements and having a dig at AT&T on Twitter.
Today, his image post hints at what’s up T-Mobile’s sleeve for 2014, and it seems that his thinking goes very much along with ours. He – perhaps – even confirms rumors we’ve already heard about Uncarrier 4.0 and what it could entail. Second in his list, behind removing “customer pain points” was the focus on LTE coverage. As you know from my post a couple of days back, I believe this is key to T-Mobile being seen as a genuine contender to AT&T and Verizon. And it’s vital to prove that 2013 was not a one-hit wonder.
But, it’s what’s behind it in the list that interests me. “Un-shackle the family from those other guys.”
We heard from our sources a little while ago that Uncarrier 4.0 was very much focussed on the family. Specifically, the idea is to offer customers from other carriers the ability to “escape” their existing contracts by paying off their early termination fees. This – according to those sources – is achieved partially by trading in old phones and having the rest covered by T-Mobile as a form of credit. With families of customers often choosing a single carrier, and potentially all having different end dates on their individual lines, it could be a great way for customers to save money and Tmo to gain long-term subscribers.
The announcement is taking place in just a few days time at CES in Las Vegas. So we only have a short while to wait and see exactly what Legere has up his sleeve this year.