T-Mobile may soon operate very differently
T-Mobile's next CEO, Srini Gopalan, will need to run the company in a different way than his predecessors did.
T-Mobile's current Chief Executive Officer, Mike Sievert, is leaving his role earlier than expected. That's because the company thinks Chief Operating Officer Srini Gopalan is ready to take over. Analysts have suggested that Gopalan will redefine the company's direction.
Recon Analytics Founder Roger Entner and President Don Kellogg see Gopalan reorienting the carrier around his vision.
His predecessors also left their stamp on the company, so it's only natural that Gopalan would do the same. That's precisely why he was hired: T-Mobile needs a change to deal with the challenges it's facing.
Gopalan is an industry veteran and has previously worked at Bharti Airtel Limited in India and Vodafone in the UK.
He has long been a board member of T-Mobile US. During his time at T-Mobile's parent company, Deutsche Telekom in Europe, he worked on transforming customers into fans and also played a key part in its fiber push.
T-Mobile needs both of those things right now. The company's customers are growing disillusioned because it no longer feels like John Legere's T-Mobile.
T-Mobile wants to become a fiber player, but it's only interested in scooping up pure-play fiber companies. Since many providers also have copper in their networks, the company's options are limited. Considering T-Mobile's ambitions, Gopalan is the ideal person for the role, as he has executed similar large-scale projects before.
When you get a new executive, you always get a breath of fresh air into the organization.
Roger Entner, Recon Analytics Founder, September 2025
His predecessors also left their stamp on the company, so it's only natural that Gopalan would do the same. That's precisely why he was hired: T-Mobile needs a change to deal with the challenges it's facing.
He has long been a board member of T-Mobile US. During his time at T-Mobile's parent company, Deutsche Telekom in Europe, he worked on transforming customers into fans and also played a key part in its fiber push.
T-Mobile needs both of those things right now. The company's customers are growing disillusioned because it no longer feels like John Legere's T-Mobile.
...under his tenure, the slogan was turning customers into fans, which I think somebody in Seattle can certainly agree with. He also was instrumental in its fiber push in Germany, and this is something that T-Mobile here in the US is doing.
Roger Entner, Recon Analytics Founder, September 2025
The company has started to hit its growth ceiling as well. It already captures around 50 percent of the urban market and has been growing steadily in rural markets. However, expansion is going to decelerate at some point, which is where Srini comes in.
He is regarded as an operations mastermind and can use his skills to maintain the current level of success, even as the growth rate flattens out.
He is regarded as an operations mastermind and can use his skills to maintain the current level of success, even as the growth rate flattens out.
T-Mobile wants to become a fiber player, but it's only interested in scooping up pure-play fiber companies. Since many providers also have copper in their networks, the company's options are limited. Considering T-Mobile's ambitions, Gopalan is the ideal person for the role, as he has executed similar large-scale projects before.
So I think he will be a fixture and he will make his presence known. Of all the executives that I know and see within Deutsche Telekom as the overall organization, he's one of the best, if not the best.
Roger Entner, Recon Analytics Founder, September 2025
From being a disruptor under Legere to beginning its pivot towards profits under Sievert, T-Mobile has come a long way. Gopalan has a proven track record for driving operational efficiency. He wasn't dealt an easy hand, given that T-Mobile has exhausted obvious growth avenues. He is expected to focus more on efficiency and operations, and he will need to rewrite T-Mobile's playbook to do that.
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