T-Mobile US CEO John Legere has shared predictions for 2016 and beyond.
His predictions are aimed at enhancing customer experience, adding more 4G coverage and enhancing the number of business customers.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere talks about main rivals: AT&T and Verizon. He did not utter a word about SoftBank-owned Sprint.
The following are the key highlights from the blog of John Legere.
T-Mobile will be solving pain points with a focus on ways to simplify the wireless experience and simplify the buying experience. Wireless ranks 32 out of 37 industries in customer satisfaction – just above Health Insurance and the US Postal Service – according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).
LTE coverage
The Duopoly (AT&T and Verizon) barely added any coverage in 2015 while we have more than doubled our LTE footprint since 2014, adding almost 1 million square miles of new LTE (more than doubling our square mile coverage overall) – basically about 1/3rd the size of the continental US.
We’ll continue outpacing AT&T and Verizon Wireless in innovation in 2016. Verizon’s PR machine notwithstanding, when 5G rolls out, it’ll be built on the back of the most advanced 4G LTE technologies.
Spectrum auctions
The lowband spectrum auctions will be the most important in recent US history and will shape the future of the wireless industry for decades to come.
I predict that T-Mobile will walk away a winner. The other guys have already hoarded 73 percent of the nation’s lowband.
When we bought some of what they’d been sitting on for years, we immediately built out a huge Extended Range LTE network in a matter of months. The carriers have shown they don’t know what to do with their hoard.
Binge On
We’ll more than double the number of video streaming services in our program, adding at least 24 more. AT&T and Verizon will keep pushing their self-serving video strategies.
Consumer video-on-demand traffic is projected to double by 2019. The carriers see this as a way to screw their customers and line their pockets. The Un-carrier approach to video is radically different. The Duopoly will tax and toll every byte of every video you stream, then spend your money to buy or build video services − like Verizon’s Go90 and whoever AT&T buys next – that they can use to force you to buy more data or gouge you with more overage penalties.
With Binge On, customers have total control to turn the service off or on at will. With our approach, customers win, our partners win and we win. We started with 7 music streaming services last year and now have more than 40 today.
Verizon will get more and more panicked – now that our network is going head-to-head with them nearly everywhere.
Now that T-Mobile’s LTE coverage has reached near parity and is still the fastest LTE network in the country, we are starting to see them sweat. This year, they’ve already copied Carrier Freedom and their PR people have decided to try and attack me on Twitter.
Verizon has bought AOL. They’re eyeing Yahoo.
Verizon’s millennial infatuation will probably inspire some enterprising entrepreneur to create a new hit board game and app called “Verizon Buzzword Bingo.” Verizon Buzzword Bingo will rank higher than Go90 in the App Store and Google Play.
Verizon will continue to struggle to hold on to their smartphone customers – especially businesses – and continue to have to pad their numbers with free tablets and other distractions.
US businesses switching to T-Mobile
Since we brought the Un-carrier revolution to US business − with simple, 100 percent transparent pricing and a load of benefits − the number of businesses choosing T-Mobile has quadrupled.
American businesses are fed up with backroom deals, overages and overcharging from AT&T and Verizon.
We’ll double our small and mid-sized business base in 2016.
Rumors about consolidation in wireless will continue this year, and Dish will be tap dancing in at least half of them. I am sure we’ll see at least 3 different versions of new M&A ideas and rumors in US Wireless this year, and I’m sure T-Mobile will be in the middle of all of them.
Internet of Things
In 2016, we’ll start to see some real implementations practiced, probably along the lines of what Google’s done with Nest – which is, of course, available at T-Mobile.
By T-Mobile CEO John Legere
editor@telecomlead.com
