I couldn’t help but think of Star Trek when reading John Legere’s forward-looking post for next year. Published a short while ago, T-Mobile’s CEO outlines what he sees happening over the next twelve months in the wireless industry. It’s certainly worth a read and doesn’t stop with just mobile phones and carriers.
Of particularly interest to us though is his take on the state of the wireless industry. With T-Mobile having kicked off the trend in 2013, carriers are now selling more subsidy-free phones than before. Around 41% of devices are being sold without subsidies, and it’s predicted that 2015 will see two thirds sold without subsidy, and more than half of US wireless customers will be contract-free. It’s clear then, that at least one of the Uncarrier moves is working. But it’s not the same for all the others. John Legere predicts that overages and international charges will still be “rampant”, and that ETFs will still exist.
Legere also promises that T-Mobile will go “toe-to-toe” with Verizon’s network “almost everywhere”. T-Mobile now reaches 264 million people with its LTE network, while Verizon reaches 303 million. He acknowledges that there’s still some catching up to do, but by the end of 2015 T-Mobile will have 300 million people covered by LTE with 150 metro areas with Wideband LTE and 350 metro areas with the 700MHz low-band network.
Could a post by T-Mobile’s outspoken CEO be posted without the usual dig at the competition? Of course not. And there’s a whole section of the list dedicate to predicting Sprint, AT&T and Verizon continuing with their “BS” promos, causing their customers pain and flurry of promotions.
Interestingly, he also speculates that phablet and wearable sales will skyrocket. And – of course – the company will continue to add more uncarrier moves to its archest.
“We’ll make more Un-carrier moves and continue to improve and expand past moves. And, we’ll take the Un-carrier movement to entirely new groups of people. 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. There’s still a shit-ton of important work to do. “
It’s a post definitely worth your attention, if you’re a T-Mobile fan and is rounded off nicely by the bold statement that T-Mobile will soon overtake Sprint as the Number 3 carrier in the U.S.
So go check it out, and let us know if there’s anything John’s missed off the list.
Source: T-Mobile