For those who don't remember what T-Mobile was like during the era when former CEO John Legere was running the show, it was a carrier that was always putting the customer first. The Legere era started in September 2012 and ended after he stepped down on April 1, 2020, when T-Mobile closed on the acquisition of Sprint. Under Legere, T-Mobile went from outhouse to powerhouse mostly due to Legere's penchant for putting the customer first and using Un-carrier events to fix customer pain points.
Some of the Un-carrier items John Legere introduced to make T-Mobile a powerhouse
Some of the things that John started at T-Mobile became industry-wide perks although no one offered its subscribers as many rewards as T-Mobile. Under Legere T-Mobile started:
T-Mobile Tuesdays reward program
Netflix on us
Ending contracts and subsidized phones
Rollover unused minutes
Unfortunately, Legere's righthand man Mike Sievert forgot to put the customer first when he became CEO after Legere. And now that Sievert is gone, replaced by Srini Gopalan, the carrier is feeling the weight of abandoning Legere's policies. T-Mobile is having a hard time as it transitions to a digital carrier with few stores, few reps, and a buggy, laggy T-Life app that customers will use to pay their accounts, add or subtract lines, upgrade their phones and buy accessories.
Verizon's new CEO Dan Schulman wants a customer-first culture at Verizon. | Image credit-Verizon
Legere's T-Mobile was an incredible model for wireless firms that want to put their customers first and grow. According to reports, "customer first" is the new culture that Verizon's latest CEO Dan Schulman recently said that he wants to install at Verizon. "We are going to take bold and fiscally responsible action to redefine Verizon’s trajectory at this critical inflection point for our company. We will rapidly shift to a customer-first culture, one that thrives on delighting our customers.
Verizon used its advantage in coverage and speed to continually raise prices
Schulman added, ""These will not be incremental changes. We will aggressively transform our culture, our cost structure, and the financial profile of Verizon in order to put our customers first, compete effectively, and deliver sustainable returns for our shareholders."
Will Schulman succeed in changing Verizon's culture to "customer first"?
Yes. It won't be easy or quick though.
50%
No. Putting customers first isn't in Verizon's DNA.
50%
Verizon has long been selected by consumers in the U.S. who want the most reliable carrier with the widest coverage and fastest data speeds. For years, this was Verizon and it allowed the carrier to charge the highest prices for service and get away with it. Ironically, it was T-Mobile's lower prices that first brought in new customers and allowed John Legere to start the change in T-Mobile as it greatly improved its coverage and speeds.
When 5G came along, a choice made by T-Mobile to use mid-band spectrum to build out its 5G network proved to be the right one. While the millimeter wave (mmWave) airwaves chosen by Verizon and AT&T were faster, they traveled short distances only which complicated things for Verizon and AT&Tforcing the pair to bid $68 billion for C-band licenses in 2021. T-Mobile's decision allowed it to be the 5G King in the U.S. with the fastest data speeds.
Verizon's new CEO should study how Legere made T-Mobile
Schulman can learn a lot on how to be a customer-first carrier by studying Legere's years at T-Mobile to learn how he started the transformation that eventually allowed T-Mobile to pass Sprint for third place, AT&T for second, and Verizon to be the nation's largest wireless carrier. Schulman does plan on heavily relying on a tool that wasn't available to Legere like it is now: AI.
Verizon's new CEO has hinted that he will use AI to make things easier for Verizon customers. "We have barely scratched the surface of how AI-powered innovation can transform our customer experience," Schulman said. Verizon's CEO wants to use AI to help personalize and simplify offers to potential customers. One thing that I, as a Verizon customer for over 20 years, was glad to hear is that the carrier will stop relying on price increases to satisfy stockholders who want to see higher and higher profits.
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We are entering a whole new world where T-Mobile is the nation's largest carrier, Verizon (of all wireless providers) plans to put customers first and has rejected growth through price hikes. As for AT&T, it seems nothing ever changes.
Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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