T-Mobile’s Uncarrier Strategy Is Hard To Sustain

T-Mobile in the past few years have managed to stir up quite a lot of buzz in the carrier and telecommunications industry. This is thanks to the carrier’s “uncarrier” strategy which basically offers customers crazy deals and offers which often come across as too good to be true. This has worked out for T-Mobile as they have seen an uptick in new subscribers, but how sustainable is it?

In an interview with Re/code, Deutsche Telekom’s CEO Tim Hoettges recently revealed that this strategy might not necessarily be very sustainable for the long-term. Hoettges revealed that in order to keep up with T-Mobile USA’s uncarrier strategy, they would have to invest $4-5 billion every year.

He was quoted as saying, “The question is always the economics in the long term … and earning appropriate money. You have to earn your money back at one point in time.” That being said, Hoettges does appreciate the maverick approach that John Legere has taken with the company, although it’s probably a management style that would never be accepted in Germany.

“His management style will never be adaptable to Germany. I like people being disruptive… I like people who are brave. He is very much fitting to our DNA, how we want to be, even if he is very American in his approach.” Hoettges also revealed that he likes the idea of merging with Sprint and hopes that the political environment will change in the future that would allow such a merger to take place.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: T-Mobile