Easily one of the more interesting — and quite honestly, cool — stories of 2013 has been T-Mobile’s Uncarrier approach. Their rage-quitting of the status quo makes for good theater, but also really happy customers. Their CEO has a brashness we love, and they have inspired change throughout the industry. Prior to them, there were no “early opt-out” plans, and now each major US carrier has one.
With a single tweet, T-Mobile CEO John Legere has done it again. The message, which you can see above, promises to alleviate another point of contention for wireless customers. We have so far been wildly impressed with T-Mobile’s rollout of their Uncarrier scheme, so we’re a little curious as to what this could mean. It’s vague, obviously meant to inspire articles like this one, but can we glean anything from it? We think so.
First, the promise of alleviating another customer “pain point” is not new. That’s the goal of Uncarrier ad-hoc, but who is Randall? T-Mobile has been having a very public (and hilarious) row with AT&T, and their CEO’s name is Randall Stephenson. If that sounds like a stretch, other Legere tweets also tag Randall, and are clearly pointed at the AT&T chief, so we’re confident that’s who Randall is. Now, what could this new Uncarrier feature be?
We think it has to do with Verizon’s A-Block spectrum, which is up for grabs. T-Mobile recently freed up a bunch of cash to bid on the 700 MHz spectrum, and with news of AT&T planning to give them a race, it became interesting. Verizon and AT&T are currently the only two carriers with 4G technology operating in the 700 MHz range, and T-Mobile’s acquisition of some Verizon spectrum would even that playing field a bit. It would also give AT&T customers an easier avenue to migrate to T-Mobile, which has been a thorn in the side of many — on both sides of the fence.
