What you’ll read: T-Mobile used its merger with Sprint to reinvent itself as a future-focused telecom brand.
In the telecommunications world, T-Mobile punches well above its weight. What started as a discount-focused cellular company is now the fastest-growing wireless carrier in the country, competing with giants like AT&T and Verizon. But this is only possible because T-Mobile saw a marketing opportunity to reinvent itself as a telecom brand of the future.
By 2010, T-Mobile was already a successful company earning upwards of $5 billion in revenue per quarter. However, those are small numbers in the telecom world compared to the tens of billions AT&T earns per quarter. T-Mobile needed both a competitive edge and a way to catch up to the gains of its competitors.
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In this context, it’s no wonder T-Mobile took part in a decade-long effort to merge with Sprint. When divided, each business would fight a losing battle against more massive telecom companies. Together, they could pool their resources for a stronger competitive advantage. Each company had been seeking to acquire the other since 2013, finally settling on a merger agreement in 2018.
Unfortunately, these efforts were not without controversy. To this day, antitrust organizations criticize the merger and T-Mobile itself, accusing the company of failing to meet agreement terms that would discourage a monopoly. Meanwhile, T-Mobile shows many signs of growing pains — most notably when its new infrastructure was left vulnerable to cyber attacks — that can impact public perception. While these concerns are ongoing, T-Mobile’s marketing does show signs of consumer-friendly services that will help it weather the years ahead.
While the Sprint merger boosted T-Mobile’s overall coverage, its network is still smaller than its competitors. AT&T, for example, is more widely available to US customers and offers feature-rich plans, including HBO Max memberships. To stand out, T-Mobile is focusing its rapid growth on advanced features that AT&T will struggle to meet in the short-term, most notably 5G wireless.
Thanks to the combined post-merger assets, T-Mobile could push forward with rapid 5G deployment. Most notably, Sprint’s aging cellular coverage sites were upgraded with 5G technology, supercharging both available coverage and wireless communication speeds. In addition, by focusing on a blend of urban and rural environments, T-Mobile quickly passed its 150 million customer milestone for mid-band 5G and 300 million for low band.
The result of these improvements is an impressive 5G coverage map that highlights most of the United States for T-Mobile while AT&T and Verizon fall behind. Suddenly, T-Mobile could position itself as a next-gen telecommunications alternative while cornering a future-proof market.
While AT&T and Verizon will have their own upgrades soon, T-Mobile has an immediate advantage. The next step will likely be to promote new partnerships — such as the T-Mobile for Education program — that extend the brand’s reach outside traditional consumer relationships. Whatever happens next, T-Mobile shows us that investing in the future is always a good strategy, even in the rigidly-defined telecom industry.