Quantity has never been a mark for quality, but it's no coincidence that more subscribers are getting more upset with their telco since the telcos themselves began laying off employees in a frenzy.
T-Mobile, for example, is trying to make its subscribers embrace the T-Life app. The one that, theoretically, should be there for you anytime and for anything you might want to throw at it.
We recently told you that users aren't enchanted with the T-Life app. And, coincidentally or not, T-Mobile's employee count has shrunk by almost 5,000.
Slashing jobs, axing jobs
Do you like… or love the T-Life app? | Image by T-Mobile
As the latest report claims, T-Mobile has been in the workforce optimization business and as a result, 4,700 jobs have been axed. Optimization is necessary, don't get me wrong. Duplicate positions should be eliminated and effectiveness is the name of the game; I'm just pointing out that it seems that the fewer people for T-Mobile, the more dissatisfied the clients are.
The latest job cut numbers aren't released by the Magenta carrier but by its Deutsche Telekom parent company.
What will you do when T-Mobile goes all in on T-Life?
How much, exactly?
The Deutsche Telekom Q2 2026 report says that in the US, full-time employees have gone down from 70,036 (by the end of 2025) to 65,365 (by the end of June)—a difference of roughly 4,700. Not a small number.
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It's notable that this current job drop is worse than the one of 4,411 reported in 2023 (but T-Mobile had already slashed 4,000 jobs in 2022).
Business as usual
The latest round of job slashing comes after T-Mobile's $4.3 billion acquisition of UScellular's assets in August last year and brings its workforce roughly back to where it stood before the deal. UScellular had around 4,100 employees at the end of 2024 and initially told regulators it planned to lay off its entire workforce ahead of the deal. However, the company later said that most employees would be rehired by T-Mobile.
Deutsche Telekom highlighted the scale of the cuts in its latest earnings report, saying the number of full-time employees in its US operations fell by 6.7% between December 2025 and June 2026, mainly because of the 2025-2026 Workforce Transformation program ("job cuts" in plain English). Including smaller reductions in Germany and other parts of the company, Deutsche Telekom has eliminated 6,283 positions since the end of last year, reducing its global workforce by 3.2% to 191,796 employees.
The others do it too
Of course, both AT&T and Verizon are in the job-axing business, too—so it's not just T-Mobile that does it these days. While these companies have slashed a total of 4,000 jobs recently, they have reportedly axed over 140,000 positions between 2020 and 2025.
Mint Mobile is now allowing you to get whichever plan you like for either three, six, or 12 months for just $15/mo. If you go for the six-month unlimited service, for instance, you'll now have to pay just $90 upfront instead of $210.
Sebastian is one of PhoneArena’s senior opinionators. A veteran news writer with almost 20 years of experience in media and technology, he not only covers all the hot news about Galaxies and iPhones, but often provides hot takes on industry trends. He’s fascinated with camera-focused flagships from the likes of Oppo and Vivo, as well as foldable phones.
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