Southeast UniversityAn Assignment On

T-Mobile

(In partial fulfillment of the requirement of course No MGT: 4127”HR Strategy”)

Submitted to:

Dr. Md. Abdul Hannan Mia

Professor Department of Management Information Systems

Dhaka University.

Submitted By

Name IDMd. Jahid Hasan Ranju 2012010000335

Section: B, Program: BBA, SEU

Spring-2015

Date of submission: 21-04-2015

Table of Content

No Topic Page No

01.

02.

03.

04.

05.

06.

07.

08.

09.

Introduction

T-Mobile International AG was a German holding company for Deutsche Telekom AG's various mobile communications subsidiaries outside Germany. Based in Bonn, Germany, its subsidiaries operated GSM, UMTS and LTE-based cellular networks in Europe, the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The company had financial stakes in mobile operators in both Central and Eastern Europe.

The T-Mobile brand was present in 12 European countries – Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany (as Telekom), Hungary, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom, as well as the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Globally, T-Mobile International subsidiaries had a combined total of approximately 230 million subscribers. T-Mobile International was the world's fifteenth-largest mobile-phone service provider by subscribers and the fourth-largest multinational after the UK's Vodafone, India's Airtel, and Spain's Telephonica.

History

Germany's first mobile-communications services were radiotelephone systems that were owned and operated by the state postal monopoly, Deutsche Bundespost. It launched the analog first-generation C-Netz ("C Network", marketed as C-Tel), Germany's first true mobile phone network in 1985.On July 1, 1989, West Germany reorganized Deutsche Bundespost and consolidated telecommunications into a new unit, Deutsche Bundespost Telekom. On July 1, 1992, it began to operate Germany's first GSM network, along with the C-Netz, as its DeTeMobil subsidiary. The GSM 900 MHz frequency band was referred to as the "D-Netz", and Telekom named its service D1; the private consortium awarded the second license (now Vodafone Germany) chose the name D2.

Deutsche Bundespost Telekom was renamed Deutsche Telekom in 1995, and began to be privatized in 1996. That same year, DT began to brand its subsidiaries with the T- prefix, renaming the DeTeMobil subsidiary T-Mobil. In 2002, as DT consolidated its international operations; it anglicized the T-Mobil name to T-Mobile.

On April 1, 2010, the T-Home and T-Mobile German operations merged to form a new wholly owned DT subsidiary, Telekom Deutschland GmbH. The T-Mobile brand was discontinued in Germany and replaced with the Telekom brand. The T-Mobile brand is still used in markets

outside Germany. Non-German mobile-network assets are organized into various country-specific subsidiaries under the T-Mobile International AG subsidiary of DT.

In 2010, T-Mobile UK became part of a joint venture with Telecom’s UK mobile-network provider, Orange (UK). Combined, the two companies make the UK's largest mobile-network operator, called EE. Despite the joint venture, the T-Mobile and Orange brands continue to co-exist in the UK market. In July 2014, Telekom group had bought the Romanian companies Romtelecom and Cosmote, acquiring almost 40 percent of the country's shares.

Branches & T-Mobiles European ventures

Austria

Until 2000, T-Mobile was a shareholder of the former max.mobil. Network. In April 2001, it acquired one hundred percent and subsequently introduced the T-Mobile brand in Austria by rebranding max.mobil. In April 2002 as T-Mobile Austria.

In 2005, it acquired former competitor tele.ring from Western Wireless International. It is now used as a discount brand. Tele.ring is an Austrian mobile network operator. Since it was bought by T-Mobile in 2006, it is no longer a legally independent company. Tele.ring is administratively independent and now acts primarily as a discount-offer, similar to Yesss and BoB of A1. In the past, tele.ring was known for their aggressive price-politics.

Croatia

T-Mobile entered the Croatian market in October 1999 when DT initially acquired a thirty-five percent interest in Hrvatski telekom, including its cell phone service provider Cronet. Two years later, DT signed an agreement with the Croatian government to acquire the additional 16 percent needed for a majority holding. In January 2003, Hrvatski Telekom assembled all of its mobile activities under a single brand HTmobile. Finally, in October 2004, HTmobile became T-Mobile Hrvatska, or T-Mobile Croatia, thus joining the global T-Mobile family also by name. Since January 1, 2010, Hrvatski Telekom and T-Mobile Croatia merged into one company on the Croatian market under the name Hrvatski Telekom (in English: Croatian Telecom); the T-Mobile brand remained active in the mobile-business area and T-Com in the fixed-business area until 2013 when they were replaced by unified brand "Hrvatski Telekom".

Czech Republic

T-Mobile was previously known as Paegas in the Czech Republic’s-Mobile Czech Republic as. has been operating in the Czech market since 1996. As of May 30, 2008, 5.4 million customers were using T-Mobile services-Mobile Czech Republic as. Operates a public mobile

communications network on the GSM standard in the 900 and 1800 MHz bands and is also authorized to operate a UMTS network. On October 19, 2005, T-Mobile was the first operator in the Czech Republic to launch this third-generation technology under the name Internet 4G.

Germany

Germany's initial mobile communications services were radiotelephone systems that were owned and operated by the state postal monopoly, Deutsche Bundespost. These early mobile communications networks were referred to as the "A" and "B" networks.

Deutsche Bundespost Telekom built Germany's first cellular mobile network, an analog, first-generation system referred to as the "C" network or C-Netz. The network became operational in 1985 and services were marketed under the C-Tel brand. Following German reunification in 1990, the "C" network was extended to the former East Germany.

On July 1, 1992, Deutsche Bundespost Telekom's DeTeMobil subsidiary began operating Germany's first GSM 900 MHz frequency cellular network, which the organization referred to as D-Netz. Digital GSM services were marketed under the "D1" brand and DeTeMobil continued to sell analog cellular services concurrently under the existing C-Tel brand. In 1994, DeTeMobil introduced short message service (SMS) services.

In 1996, DT began to brand its subsidiaries with the T- prefix, renaming the DeTeMobil subsidiary T-Mobil and rebranding the GSM cellular network T-D1. C-Netz was renamed to T-C-Tel. The T-C-Tel / C-Netz services were fully discontinued in 2000.

D1 introduced prepaid service called extra in 1997.

Despite the numerous changes in subsidiary names and brands, Germans sometimes continue to use the T-D1 name within Germany and refer to T-Mobile as D1. On April 1, 2010, after the T-Home and T-Mobile German operations merged to form Telekom Deutschland GmbH, a wholly owned DT subsidiary; the T-Mobile brand was discontinued in Germany and replaced with the Telekom brand.

In T-Mobile's home market of Germany, it is the largest mobile-phone operator with almost 38 million subscribers. (As of December 2013) and provides up to LTE-Cat4 with 300 Mbit/s.

Hungary

On May 1, 2004, the same day as Hungary joined the European Union, the former company, named Wesel (which was owned entirely by the former Matáv) changed its name, and the entire marketing. Westel was the most popular cellphone network in Hungary at the time. The company was called T-Mobile Hungary, but after some financial decisions, as with the other T-

companies, it formed to Magyar Telekom Nyrt. Mobil Szolgáltatások Üzletág (Hungarian Telekom, Mobile Services Business Unit), but they still say T-Mobile. T-Mobile also provides high-speed services, like EDGE, 3G, and HSDPA in Hungary's major cities. Since January 2012 the company provides LTE on the 1.8 GHz frequency.

MacedoniaMain article: T-Mobile Macedonia

In Republic of Macedonia, T-Mobile was previously known as Mobimak. The company has been operating in the Macedonian market since 1996. On September 7, 2006, Mobimak accepted the international T-Mobile branding. By June 2007, T-Mobile reached one million subscribers, out of which 85 percent were active and using their services. T-Mobile MK covers 98 percent of the population. It has a GSM 900 license, offers GPRS, MMS and mobile internet services using T-Mobile Hotspots and has implemented the EDGE fast mobile internet specification. T-Mobile Macedonia applied for a UMTS license on August 1, 2007. The codes are 070/071/072.

Montenegro

The T-Mobile brand entered the Montenegrin market in 2006 through the acquisition of MoNet GSM mobile provider. T-Mobile Montenegro (T-Mobile Crna Gora) is fully owned by T-Crnogorski Telekom, which is itself owned by Magyar Telekom, a DT subsidiary. Although the acquisition by Magyar Telekom was done in 2005, it was not until September 26, 2006, that the MoNet GSM operator was re-branded as T-Mobile Montenegro. MoNet GSM launched on July 1, 2000, as part of Telecom Montenegro. It became an independent incorporated limited-liability company a month later, on August 1, 2000. The company currently holds around 34 percent of the Montenegrin market and uses GSM 900, GPRS, and EDGE technologies. Since June 21, 2007, 3G/UMTS services have been available in larger cities as well as on the coast.

Netherlands

T-Mobile (Deutsche Telekom) entered the Dutch market by the acquisition of Ben on September 20, 2002. In 2007, T-Mobile Netherlands, a wholly owned subsidiary of T-Mobile International, acquired Orange Netherlands from France Télécom for EUR 1.33 billion. This makes it the third largest mobile telephone operator in the country behind KPN and Vodafone.

Capacity problems

T-Mobile announced in May 2010 that it was dealing with major capacity problems on its 3G network. T-Mobile admitted the problems after much pressure from customers and the Dutch media. T-Mobile could not keep up with the growing data demand from smartphones, caused by the number of new customers who wanted an iPhone: T-Mobile in the Netherlands failed to keep

up with the demand, and capacity problems on the network were the result. T-Mobile denied the problems at first by telling complaining customers that their mobile phone or SIM-card was causing the problem. The capacity problems occurred mostly in cities and densely populated areas. When affected, people could experience problems with calling or receiving calls, text messaging (SMS), or data services. A substantial number of customers were not able to use any of these services in cities or urban areas when the network capacity was overloaded, for instance the cities of Amsterdam and Utrecht were heavily impacted. After being put under pressure by several consumer interest groups and the Dutch media, T-Mobile started a cash-back settlement for all consumers who had complained about failing communication services-Mobile invested tens of millions of Euros to upgrade its network. The upgrade was to have been completed by the end of first quarter of 2011.

Poland

T-Mobile (Poland) serves over thirteen million customers, and owns licenses for 900, 1800, and 2100 MHz bands which are used for GSM, WCDMA and LTE. Formerly Era, rebranding took place on June 5, 2011. T-Mobile Poland with Orange Polska have consolidated their infrastructure and used this opportunity to roll out 3G coverage using 900 MHz band.

Slovakia

The T-Mobile brand entered the Slovak market in May 2005, after rebranding the EuroTel network from Europe Bratislava to T-Mobile Slovensko nowadays Telekom. The company Eurotel Bratislava was partially owned by Slovak Telekom, an incumbent fixed-line operator, which later acquired a one hundred percent stake in Eurotel Bratislava. T-Mobile International and DT never owned T-Mobile Slovensko directly; DT is partially owner of Slovak Telekom and thus T-Mobile International has procurement managing function within T-Mobile Slovensko. On July 1, 2010, Slovak Telekom and T-Mobile Slovensko merged into one company on the Slovak market under the name Telekom; T-Mobile brand no more remains active in the mobile-business area, as well as the T-Com in the fixed-business area.

The Telekom network provides services on three networks GSM (900/1800 MHz), UMTS (2100 MHz), Flash OFDM (450 MHz). Mobile data services are provided on 4G, 3G, GSM network with EDGE extension and on UMTS with DC-HSPA+ 42 Mbit/sand HSUPA 5,8 Mbit/s. Flash OFDM is one of two commercially successfully launched solely data networks in the world. It supports upload speed up to 5.8 Mbit/s.

United Kingdom

T-Mobile at Hatfield Business Park

T-Mobile and Orange shops in Leeds

T-Mobile UK started life as Mercury One2One, the world's first GSM 1800 mobile network. It was originally operated by the now-defunct Mercury Communications. Later known simply as One 2 One, it was purchased by DT in 1999 and rebranded as T-Mobile in 2002.

T-Mobile offers both pay-as-you-go and pay-monthly contract phones. The pay-monthly contracts consist of set amounts of minutes and "flexible boosters", which allow the customer to change them month to month depending on their needs. T-Mobile launched their 3G UMTS services in the autumn of 2003.In late 2007, it was confirmed that a merger of the high-speed 3G and HSDPA networks operated by T-Mobile UK and 3 (UK) was to take place starting January 2008. This left T-Mobile and 3 with the largest HSDPA mobile phone network in the country.In 2009, Telecom’s Orange and DT, T-Mobile's parent, announced they were in advanced talks to merge their UK operations to create the largest mobile operator. In March 2010, the European Commission approved this merger on the condition that the combined company sells 25% of the spectrum it owns on the 1800 MHz radio band and amends a network sharing agreement with smaller rival 3. The merger was completed the following month, the new company's name later being announced as EE. Orange and T-Mobile will continue as separate brands in the market for at least eighteen months,[25] both run by the new parent company. T-Mobile UK's network is also used as the backbone network behind the Virgin Mobile virtual network.

Directors of T-Mobile

   Timotheus Hottges

Timotheus Höttges has served as a director of our Company and Chairman of the Board since April 30, 2013, and is a member and chair of the Executive Committee of our Board of Directors. Since January 2014, Mr. Höttges has served as Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Telekom, our majority stockholder and a leading integrated telecommunications company. From March 2009 to December 2013, he served as Deutsche Telekom’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and a member of the Board of Management.

   John J. Legere

John J. Legere has served as a director of our Company since April 30, 2013 and is a member of the Executive Committee of our Board of Directors. Mr. Legere joined T-Mobile USA in September 2012 as President and Chief Executive Officer and became our President and Chief Executive Officer on April 30, 2013 upon the consummation of the Business Combination. Mr. Legere has over 32 years’ experience in the U.S. and global telecommunications and technology industries. Prior to joining T-Mobile USA, Mr. Legere served as Chief Executive Officer of Global Crossing Limited, a telecommunications company, from October 2001 to October 2011.

   W. Michael Barnes

W. Michael Barnes has served as a director of our Company since May 2004 and is a member of the Audit Committee and Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors. Until the Business Combination was consummated on April 30, 2013, Mr. Barnes served as the chair of the Audit Committee of the legacy MetroPCS Board and also served on the Compensation Committee. Mr. Barnes held several positions at Rockwell International Corporation, a multi-industry company in high technology businesses including aerospace, commercial and defense electronics, telecommunication equipment, industrial automation systems and semiconductor products manufacturing, between 1968 and 2001.

   Thomas Dannenfeldt

Thomas Dannenfeldt has served as a director of our Company since November 15, 2013, and is a member of the Compensation Committee and Executive Committee of our Board of Directors. Mr. Dannenfeldt has served as the Chief Financial Officer of Deutsche Telekom, our majority stockholder and a leading integrated telecommunications company, since January 2014. He was Finance Director of Telekom Deutschland from April 2010 to December 2013. From July 2009

to April 2010, he was the Coif T-Mobile Deutschland. From January 2010 to April 2010 he was also responsible for the fixed line part of Deutsche Telekom as a member of the T-Home Board of Management.

   Srikant M. Datar

Srikant M. Datar has served as a director of our Company since April 30, 2013 and is a member and chair of the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors. Mr. Datar is the Arthur Lowes Dickinson Professor at the Graduate School of Business Administration at Harvard University. Mr. Datar is a Chartered Accountant and planner in industry, and has been a professor of accounting and business administration at Harvard since July 1996, and he previously served as a professor at Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon University. Mr. Datar currently serves on the board of directors of Novartis AG, where he is also the Chairman of the Audit and Compliance Committee, and a member of the Chairman’s Committee, the Risk Committee and the Compensation Committee. Mr. Datar is also a member of the boards of directors of ICF International Inc.

   Lawrence H. Guffey

Lawrence H. Guffey has served as a director of our Company since April 30, 2013, and is a member of the Compensation Committee, Executive Committee and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of our Board of Directors. Since September of 1991, Mr. Guffey has been with The Blackstone Group, presently serving as Senior Managing Director, Private Equity Group. The Blackstone Group is an asset management and financial services company. Mr. Guffey has led many of The Blackstone Group’s media and communications investment activities and manages Blackstone Communications Advisors. Mr. Guffey was a member of the Supervisory Board at Deutsche Telekom, our majority stockholder, from June 2006 until October 2013.

   Bruno Jacobfeuerborn

Bruno Jacobfeuerborn has served as a director of our Company since June 5, 2014 and is a member Executive Committee. He has served as Director of Technology Telekom Deutschland since April 2010. In addition, he has been the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Deutsche Telekom, our majority stockholder and a leading integrated telecommunications company, since February 2012. Previously, Mr. Jacobfeuerborn was Director of Technology of T-Mobile Deutschland and T-Home in Germany.

Vision Statement of T-Mobile

T-Mobile dedicated to satisfy your needs and wishes. Therefore they are offering a wide range of innovative, but easy to use products and services. Everywhere in the world our customers can count on the delivery of our three corporate values – reliability, simplicity and inspiration.

Reliability - T-Mobile is an operator you can trust

you want an operator that you can trust and that provides you secure and reliably service no matter where you are. We are constantly investing to provide you innovative and high-quality services that will justify your trust.

Simplicity - You want to communicate easily and simply

why should things be complicated when they can be simple? T-Mobile offers you services and technologies that are intuitive, clear and easy to use and which don’t need additional explanations, but are self explanatory.

Inspiration - Discover life every day

Creating innovative services that will fulfill your dynamic day is our primarily goal. We are dedicated to creating services that will inspire you and surprise you by offering you new benefits and new possibilities for communication.

Besides the care for our customers, our goal is to continue to be an active part of the Macedonian society. Therefore through numerous initiatives and through the Foundation "T-Mobile for Macedonia", we are dedicated to actively contributing to further improvement of all the areas important for our society.

T-Mobile's "Mission Statement"

Unlike most companies, T-mobile USA does not present their "mission statement" in a very formal, business way to their customers. No special "mission statement" link, no "Our Mission Statement" heading, nor is it set apart from the rest of the history of the company. Instead, they present their "mission statement" in a very informal, customer-friendly manner, stating how the reason why they ARE in business is FOR the customer:

"The value of our plans, the breadth of our coverage, the reliability of our network, and the quality of our service are meant to do one thing: help you stick together with the people who make your life come alive. That’s why we’re here." - T-Mobile USA.

T-mobile USA makes providing services, plans, and a reliable network to their customers, increasing their customers' connectivity in a relatively disconnected world, their "mission statement."

Products & services of T-Mobile

T-Mobile US, Inc. is a wireless network operator in the United States and an operating entity of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom (DT). Its headquarters are located in Bellevue, Washington.

T-Mobile US provides wireless voice, messaging, and data services in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands under the T-Mobile, MetroPCS and Go Smart Mobile brands. The company operates the third largest wireless network in the U.S. market (not counting Sprint Corporation's inactive MVNO accounts) with over 55 million customers and annual revenues of $29.56 billion.[2] Its nationwide network reaches 96 percent of Americans, through its EDGE 2G/HSPA 3G/HSPA+ 4G/4G LTE networks (see section: Radio frequency spectrum chart). As of 2011, J. D. Power and Associates, a global marketing-information-services firm, ranked the company highest among major wireless carriers for retail-store satisfaction four years consecutively and highest for wireless customer care two years consecutively. The company traces its roots to the 1994 establishment of Voice Stream Wireless PCS, originally a subsidiary of Western Wireless Corporation. Western Wireless spun off Voice Stream Wireless to shareholders in 1999, creating a public independent company, Voice Stream Wireless Corporation. In July 2002, Voice Stream Wireless Corporation was renamed T-Mobile USA.

After a failed attempt by AT&T in 2011 to purchase the company in a $39 billion stock and cash offer (which was withdrawn after being faced with significant regulatory and legal hurdles, along with heavy resistance from the U.S. government), T-Mobile USA announced its intent to merge with MetroPCS, the sixth largest carrier in the United States, to improve its competitiveness with other national carriers; the deal was approved by the Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission in March 2013. On May 1, 2013, the combined company, renamed T-Mobile US, Inc., began trading as a public company on the New York Stock Exchange, under the symbol TMUS.

Voice Stream Wireless

Voice Stream Wireless PCS was established in 1994 as a subsidiary of Western Wireless Corporation to provide digital wireless personal communications services (PCS) in 19 FCC-defined metropolitan service areas in several western and southwestern states. Voice Stream Wireless' digital, urban service areas complemented the analog, rural service areas marketed by Western Wireless under the Cellular One brand.

Western Wireless spun off its Voice Stream Wireless division into a new company called Voice Stream Wireless Corporation in May 1999. Voice Stream Wireless completed mergers with Omni Point Corporation in February, 2000 and Aerial Communications Inc. in May 2000.

Omni point and Aerial acquisitions

In 2000, Voice Stream Wireless acquired two regional GSM carriers. Omni point Corporation, a regional network operator in the Northeastern U.S., was acquired on February 25, 2000. Aerial Communications Inc.; a regional network operator in the Columbus, Houston, Kansas City, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Pittsburgh and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Orlando markets; was acquired on May 4, 2000. The combined company retired the Omni point and Aerial brands and completed integrating the three companies by converting to a single customer billing platform, implementing standard business practices and launching the Voice Stream brand and "GET MORE" marketing strategy in all markets.

Deutsche Telekom acquires Voice Stream and Powertel

Transitional logo used by Voice Stream prior to the 2002 re-branding to T-Mobile.

On June 1, 2001, Deutsche Telekom (DT) completed the acquisition of Voice Stream Wireless Inc. for $35 billion and Southern U.S. regional GSM network operator Powertel, Inc. for $24 billion. By the end of 2001, Voice Stream Wireless had 19,000 employees serving 7 million subscribers.

In July 2002, Voice Stream Wireless Inc. took the name, T-Mobile USA, Inc. and began rolling out the T-Mobile brand, starting with locations in California and Nevada. T-Mobile USA, Inc. is the U.S. operating entity of T-Mobile International AG, the mobile communications subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG.

SunCom acquisition

On September 17, 2007, the company announced the acquisition of SunCom Wireless Holdings, Inc. for $2.4 billion; the acquisition closed on February 22, 2008. By September 8, 2008, SunCom's operations were integrated with those of the company. The acquisition added SunCom's 1.1 million customers to the company's customer base and expanded the company's network coverage to include southern Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, eastern Tennessee, northeastern Georgia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Attempted acquisition by AT&T

On March 20, 2011, DT accepted a $39 billion stock and cash purchase offer from AT&T for the company. The acquisition was subject to regulatory approvals, a reverse breakup fee in certain circumstances, and customary regulatory and closing conditions.

According to an industry analyst, after the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, T-Mobile began to lose contract customers, who dropped to 78 percent of subscribers in 2010, compared to 85 percent in 2006. Its high churn rate of 3.2 percent, compared to 1.2 percent at Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility, and the drop in contract customers made necessary investments in network upgrades and additional spectrum too risky, reinforcing DT's decision to sell.

Randall Stephenson, the chairman and chief executive officer of AT&T, expressed his confidence in the deal being approved based on the benefit to the public of expanding wireless access and relatively robust competition in the wireless market. The Alliance for Digital Equality, the Hispanic Federation, the National Black Chamber of Commerce and California Democratic representatives Loretta Sanchez and Joe Baca all supported the deal. Consumer groups Public Knowledge, Media Access Project, Consumers Union and the Computer & Communication Industry Association opposed the deal. Opposition groups stated numerous concerns with industry consolidation resulting in a reduction in competition and job losses.

If the merger had been completed, AT&T Mobility would have had a customer base of approximately 130 million users, making it the largest wireless carrier in the U.S.

On August 31, 2011, the United States Department of Justice sued to block AT&T's merger with T-Mobile on the grounds that it would "substantially lessen competition" in the wireless market. Further reports indicated that the FCC would likely oppose the merger.

On December 19, 2011, in the face of this heavy resistance from the U.S. government, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson announced that the company had officially withdrawn its $39 billion bid. In an official statement, Stephenson addressed the continuing spectrum shortage (due to a

significant increase in wireless demand), hinting that the company will continue to seek other options to solve the shortage in the short term.

Job cuts

On May 16, 2012, T-Mobile USA announced that it was cutting 900 jobs in an effort to preserve cash for further investment into its mobile network. This is in addition to the 1900 job cuts that were announced March 18, 2012, which included the shutdown of several call centers.

Merger with MetroPCS Communications

On October 3, 2012, MetroPCS Communications reached an agreement to merge with T-Mobile USA. MetroPCS shareholders would hold a 26% stake in the merged company, which retained the T-Mobile brand. While the merged company was still the fourth largest carrier in the United States (at the time), the acquisition gave T-Mobile access to more spectrum and financial resources to maintain competitiveness and expand its LTE network. The merger between T-Mobile USA Inc. and MetroPCS was officially approved by MetroPCS shareholders on April 24, 2013. The deal was structured as a reverse takeover; the combined company went public on the New York Stock Exchange as TMUS and became known as T-Mobile US Inc. on May 1, 2013. The merger agreement gave Deutsche Telekom the option to sell its 72% stake in the merged company, valued at around $14.2 billion, to a third-party before the end of the 18-month lock-up period.

Additional wireless spectrum acquisition

On June 28, 2013, T-Mobile agreed to buy wireless spectrum for the Mississippi Valley region from the firm U.S. Cellular for around $308 million, allowing the company to expand its 4G network across a further 29 markets.

On January 6, 2014, T-Mobile signed agreements with Verizon Wireless to purchase some 700 MHz A-Block spectrum licenses for $2.365 billion. Further, a transfer of some AWS and PCS spectrum licenses with a value of $950 million has been agreed upon by T-Mobile and Verizon. The acquisition reportedly will give T-Mobile additional coverage for approximately 158 million people in 9 of the top 10 and 21 of the top 30 US markets.

Attempted acquisition by Sprint

In December 2013, multiple reports indicated that Sprint Corporation and its parent company Softbank were working towards a deal to acquire a majority stake in T-Mobile for at least US$20 billion. The proposed merger, which would result in the country's major national carriers being controlled by only three companies, would further bolster T-Mobile's position in the overall market. Members of the government were skeptical that such an acquisition would be approved

by regulators, citing antitrust concerns and an explicit goal by FCC chairman Tom Wheeler to maintain four national carriers in the United States. On April 30, 2014, Bloomberg reported that Sprint was in talks with its lenders to ensure that the company would be financially prepared for the bid, now valued at $24 billion and planned for "summer 2014". It was also reported that due to his success within the company, current T-Mobile CEO John Legere was the top contender to be named CEO of a merged Sprint/T-Mobile, and that Sprint had insisted on a low termination fee to prevent regulators from being given an incentive to block the deal, as had occurred with AT&T's failed attempt to purchase T-Mobile.

On August 1, 2014, Neil’s Iliad SA publicly announced a US$16 billion all-cash counter-bid to acquire a 56% stake in T-Mobile US, which would be funded using equity and debt. Iliad is the parent company of French carrier Free Mobile, which had—similarly to T-Mobile, performed disruptive business moves to undercut its competitors, triggering a "price war" among them upon its launch in 2012. Credit Suisse analysts felt that the bid would not be "attractive" to the company's current shareholders due to its lower value in comparison to Sprint's bid, but could "put pressure on Sprint to move sooner rather [than] later.

On August 4, 2014, Bloomberg reported that Sprint had abandoned its bid to acquire T-Mobile, considering the unlikelihood that such a deal would be approved by the U.S. government and its regulators.

Wireless networks

The company owns licenses to operate a 1900 MHz GSM PCS digital cellular network and a 1700 MHz UMTS AWS digital cellular network that cover areas of the continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It provides coverage in areas where it does not own radio frequency spectrum licenses via roaming agreements with other operators of compatible networks.

Cellular network

The company's predecessor, Voice Stream Wireless, began building a regional, 2G, 1900 MHz GSM, circuit switched, digital cellular network in 1994 and first offered service in 1996 in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Salt Lake City, Utah. From that starting point, the network has expanded in size through acquisitions of other cellular-network operators and additional spectrum purchases. The network has expanded in capabilities through the introduction of new technologies. Voice Stream upgraded the 1900 MHz network to include packet switching via General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), and then increased packet switched data transmission speeds via Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE). In 2006, the company spent $4.2 billion to purchase 120 D, E or F block 1700 MHz AWS licenses and began rolling out 3G UMTS services in those frequency bands. Most recently, the company has been upgrading

network equipment and back-haul capabilities to enable first HSPA (High Speed Packet Access), then HSPA+ (Evolved HSPA) services in the AWS bands. It is marketing its HSPA+ services as 4G.

T-Mobile US headquarters in Bellevue, WA

As of 2010, the company's network reached over 293 million potential subscribers. (96% of the US.)

Packet-switched data upgrade

Packet-switched data service first became available to users in the form of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). Packet-switched data speeds increased when Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) was incorporated into the network. EDGE coverage was available within at least forty percent of the GSM footprint.

Both voice capacity and packet-switched data speeds improved when 3G Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) equipment was installed in the network. On January 5, 2010, the company announced that it has upgraded its entire 3G network to HSPA 7.2 Mbit/s, an improvement from its previous peak of 3.6 Mbit/s. It also said that it plans to be the first U.S. carrier to deploy HSPA+ across its network by mid-2010. The company has finished HSPA+ trials in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and has begun deploying HSPA+ across its network.

3G upgrade

In September 2006, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auctioned licenses in the first Advanced Wireless Services band. This band was an area of wireless spectrum, half in the 1700 MHz (1.7 GHz) and half in the 2100 MHz (2.1 GHz) frequencies that was already in use by government services. The spectrum was planned to become available after the government users migrated to different frequencies.

The auction made numerous licenses available in overlapping market-areas, economic-areas, and regional levels. Each license was individually bid upon, and T-Mobile USA was the winner in 120 license auctions, at an aggregate price of $4.18 billion. As part of its winnings, T-Mobile USA gained nationwide coverage of 1.7 GHz and 2.1 GHz, with numerous areas being supplemented with additional licenses. Examples include New York City, Chicago, and Boston where T-Mobile USA acquired one-third (33 percent) of the available spectrum, or San Francisco, Houston, and Miami where they acquired 45 percent of the available spectrum.

October 6, 2006, two weeks after confirming its winning bids, the company announced its intentions to create a UMTS third-generation, or 3G, cellular network with the spectrum it had won. It said it would utilize and build on the experience of T-Mobile International's European subsidiaries, which already implemented 3G networks. At the time of initial roll-out, the company intended to offer 7.2 Mbit/s service, making the company's 3G network the fastest in the U.S. The upgrade was forecast to cost $2.6 billion, in addition to the $4.12 billion spent to acquire the spectrum licenses.

In the same announcement, the company indicated it had already begun to deploy about half of the upgraded equipment, beginning in major markets such as New York City. With the equipment in place, it would be able to activate its network as soon as the government agencies vacated the spectrum. The company had hoped to have its network activated by mid-2007, but as of September 2007, the government users had not vacated the AWS band.

The company began selling it’s first 3G-capable phone, the Nokia 6263, in November 2007 and announced in February 2008 that its 3G network would finally be activated "within the next few months" and released in the New York City market on May 1, 2008.

To date, the company has launched its 3G network in most of its top markets. They plan to launch in additional markets as they are tuned for optimal performance, and in conjunction with marketing programs for new services and handsets. In 2009, the company upgraded more than 200 markets, covering some 208 million points of presence (POPS).

HSPA/HSPA+ "4G" upgrade

The company has begun rolling out its HSPA+ capabilities throughout its cellular network, planning to complete an upgrade of the entire network by the end of 2010, covering 185 million potential subscribers. On September 2, 2009, Nokia launched the N900, which was the first device to support the upgraded HSPA+ network.

On June 28, 2010, the company announced that it will begin to upgrade the network from HSPA+ 21 to HSPA+ 42 beginning sometime in 2011. T-Mobile is marketing its HSPA+ services as 4G.

4G LTE upgrade

On February 23, 2012, during the Q4 Earnings Call, T-Mobile laid out the future of their 4G upgrade path. They will roll out the LTE network on the AWS spectrum, and transition their HSPA+ network to the PCS band. To achieve compatibility with other networks and phones in the USA, T-Mobile began this transition in March 2013, and the rollout of LTE is currently underway as T-Mobile expands to more markets. Due to the failed acquisition of T-Mobile USA by AT&T, T-Mobile USA received additional UMTS frequency band IV (AWS) spectrum. On March 26, 2013, T-Mobile began rolling out LTE in 7 markets: Baltimore, San Jose, Washington, D.C., Phoenix, Las Vegas, Kansas City, Houston.[64] T-Mobile is continuing to push forward its HSPA+ 42 network as well, alongside implementing LTE into its nationwide network.

On August 21, 2012, the FCC approved a deal between T-Mobile and Verizon in which T-Mobile gains additional AWS spectrum licenses in 125 Cellular Market Areas.

On February 25, 2014, T-Mobile announced in their Q4 2013 earnings call that their 4G LTE network covers 209 million people in 273 metro areas. They also plan to start rolling out their 700 MHz A-Block spectrum by the end of 2014, which by the end of the roll out will cover 158 million people. This spectrum will lead to improved LTE coverage overall in these areas, particularly indoors.

On March 13, 2014, T-Mobile announced a new plan to upgrade its entire 2G/EDGE network to 4G LTE. They expect 50% to be done by the end of 2014, and it to be "substantially complete" by the middle of 2015.

On December 16, 2014, T-Mobile announced during CEO John Legere's Un-carrier 8.0 interview that their 4G LTE network covers 260 million people, and their 700 MHz Band 12 LTE has been rolled out in Cleveland, Colorado Springs, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C. They expect to cover 280 million with LTE by mid-2015 and 300 million by the end of 2015. They also stated that they cover 121 metro areas with their Wideband LTE.

Roaming

T-Mobile has roaming arrangements with a number of regional mobile network operators, including Centennial Wireless (a subsidiary of AT&T Mobility), Dobson Cellular (a subsidiary of AT&T Mobility), and Rural Cellular Corporation (a subsidiary of Verizon Wireless) and with the national mobile network operators AT&T Mobility and the former Alltel Corporation (a subsidiary of Verizon Wireless) GSM network. These carriers predominately provided service using the GSM 850 MHz band, and a dual-band phone is required to use both the native and

affiliate networks. When roaming on these affiliated networks, airtime is deducted from the user's plan, effectively expanding T-Mobile US's nationwide coverage.

As of 2008, prepaid customers have almost all of the postpaid domestic roaming privileges and restricted international roaming to Canada and Mexico.

On June 29, 2010, the company launched voice service in the Gulf of Mexico on GSM via roaming agreement through Broad point. T-Mobile USA was scheduled to launch data service in fall 2010.

In 2009, T-Mobile USA began removing AT&T Mobility roaming coverage in many locations across the country, and updated its on-line coverage maps to reflect the smaller coverage area. AT&T Mobility roaming remains available in select locations, primarily on smaller carriers that were acquired by AT&T Mobility after long term roaming contracts were in place between T-Mobile and the smaller carriers, including Centennial Wireless and Edge Wireless.

On October 9, 2013, T-Mobile announced Simple Global, a service included with eligible Simple Choice plans. This service allows one to roam in over 100 countries with unlimited text and speed-limited data, and make calls at $0.20/minute. High-speed data passes will be available for purchase. On March 7, 2014, T-Mobile announced this number will be increasing to 122 countries. If one is connected to Wi-Fi in one of these countries, and their phone supports Wi-Fi calling, all calls to and from the USA are free, and texting works the same it would on cellular.

T-Mobile Hotspots

T-Mobile has used the term "Hotspot" to represent various products and technologies.

Wi-Fi network (public)

The company operates a nationwide Wi-Fi Internet access network under the T-Mobile Hotspots brand. The T-Mobile Hotspots’ network consists of thousands of Wi-Fi access points installed in businesses, hotels and airports throughout the U.S.

The T-Mobile Hotspots service offers access to a nationwide network of approximately 8,350 access points, installed in venues such as Starbucks coffeehouses, FedEx Office Office and Print Centers, Hyatt hotels and resorts, Red Roof Inns, Sofitel hotels, Novotel hotels, the airline clubs of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and US Airways, and airports.

The T-Mobile Hotspots network can be traced to the company's 2002 purchase of bankrupt wireless ISP Mobile Star, which began building its network in 1998. After completing the purchase, the company expanded the network into 400 Borders bookstores, as well as 100 of the

most-frequented airport clubs and lounges operated by American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines. Wi-Fi network (private)

T-Mobile has also used the term to describe Wi-Fi Access Points that it sold to end users to expand their cell phone network to phones equipped to also receive Wi-Fi using a VOIP-like technology. (The models included at least two by Linksys: the WRTU54G-TM and the WRT54G-TM and one by D-Link: the TM-G5240.

T-Mobile products and services

The "Un-carrier"

In March 2013, T-Mobile introduced a new streamlined plan structure for new customers as part of an initiative called Un-carrier, which drops contracts, subsidized phones, overage fees for data, and early termination fees.

Simple Choice (Un-carrier 1.0)

The contract-free Simple Choice Plan offers unlimited calling and text messaging and 500MB of unthrottled data monthly for a base price of $50. The data can be upgraded to 2.5 GB or unlimited for an extra monthly fee. In March 2014, these amounts were changed to 1 GB free or 3 GB, 5 GB or unlimited upgrade, for the same $50 per month. Under the arrangement, customers pay a portion of their device's price up-front, and pay off the remainder through monthly payments for two years. The cost of that monthly payment depends on the device. The customer fully owns the phone and no longer makes any future payments once they have completed paying off their phone. A second line costs $30 extra, while any additional line beyond this costs $10 extra (before extra data) Family plans begin at $80.There is also a prepaid plan that gives 100 minutes of calling, unlimited text, and 5GB of data up to 4G (HSPA+ and/or LTE) speeds for $30 a month.

JUMP! (Un-carrier 2.0)

On July 10, 2013, T-Mobile introduced Jump as their second phase of the "Un-carrier", a new add-on for its monthly plans which allows customers to upgrade their phone up to two times per year, by trading in their phone to purchase a new one at the same price as a new customer. T-Mobile users with Jump! as of Feb 14th are no longer required to wait 6 months for first upgrade. AT&T and Verizon require that customers wait 2 years before they can upgrade their phone.

Simple Global (Un-carrier 3.0)

On October 9, 2013, T-Mobile introduced their third phase of the "Un-carrier", which was the introduction of basically free international roaming. See section Roaming for more information.

On October 23, 2013, T-Mobile announced a Un-carried 3.5 promo offer, which gave customers 200MB of free data for their tablets. They also announced $0 down for most tablets, including the newly to them arrived iPads.

Early Termination Fees Payoff (Un-carrier 4.0)

On January 8, 2014, T-Mobile announced its Un-carrier 4.0, which gave customers the chance to "Get out Of Jail Free". T-Mobile is offering to pay ETFs, up to $375 per line, when one trades in current devices.

On April 9, 2014, T-Mobile released their first of three parts to their "Un-carrier 4.5" initiative. This was a new, low-cost called "Simple Starter". Like "Simple Starter", it includes unlimited talk and text. The main difference is that "Simple Starter" only included 500 MB of data, after which Internet access was disabled until the next billing cycle or until more access, was purchased. Other "Simple Choice" features, such as Simple Global and Music Unleashed, are unavailable on "Simple Starter”. This plan was later replaced by a slightly pricier variant, featuring 2 GB of Internet access instead of 500 MB. "Simple Starter" has since been discontinued for new customers.

On April 10, 2014, T-Mobile released their second part of the "Un-carrier 4.5" initiative, specifically for tablets. This included a promotion that, for a limited time, sold tablets with built-in 4G LTE modems at the same price as a tablet without said modem. The initiative also included the ETF payoff program extending to tablet customers. The final part was a promotional price for mobile Internet.

On April 14, 2014, T-Mobile announced their final part to their "Un-carrier 4.5" initiative. T-Mobile abolished overages for all T-Mobile customers on all plans, current and grandfathered. CEO John Legere also started a petition to other carriers to do the same.

Test Drive (Un-carrier 5.0)

On June 18, 2014, T-Mobile announced that they would give users iPhone 5Ss to test out T-Mobile's network for a week. This offer is limited to once per household per year. Apple is providing T-Mobile with free iPhones for this promotion.

Music Freedom (Un-carrier 6.0)

On June 18, 2014, T-Mobile also announced that data used on certain streaming music services would no longer count to user’s data limits. At the time of announcement, these services include: Pandora, Spotify, Rhapsody, Google Play Music, iTunes Radio, Slacker, Milk Music, Beatport, and iHeartRadio. In addition, users are also able to vote for more music services to be selected for inclusion into this program’s-Mobile has partnered with Rhapsody to offer "UnRadio," a

streaming radio service with unlimited skips, no ads, and offline playback. The service will be free to unlimited T-Mobile customers, and will be available to all others for a nominal fee, which varies between T-Mobile and non T-Mobile customers.On November 24, 2014 this was expanded to add an additional 14 music services.

Wi-Fi Unleashed (Un-carrier 7.0)

On September 10, 2014, T-Mobile announced an agreement with Gogo Inflight Internet to provide free text messages and visual voicemail to T-Mobile customers on Gogo-equipped U.S. flights. Second, all customers were made eligible to upgrade to a device that supports Wi-Fi Calling. Third, the T-Mobile Personal Cell Spot home router allows users to make calls from their home using their broadband connection.

Data Stash (Un-carrier 8.0)

On December 16, 2014, T-Mobile announced "Data Stash", which lets users carry over unused high-speed data usage for up to one year. The feature applies to customers of eligible post-paid plans who purchase qualifying amounts of additional high-speed data.

On March 16, 2015, T-Mobile announced that Data Stash would be extended to Simple Choice prepaid customers.

Un-carrier for Business (Un-carrier 9.0)

On March 18, 2015, T-Mobile announced their new business initiatives, including simplified pricing, a special 24/7 business support team, and extending existing un-carrier benefits (global roaming, Wi-Fi calling and texting for compatible devices, free in-flight texting, etc.) to business lines. Families of employees can also receive discounts through this program’s.

T-Mobile also emphasized a dramatic coverage expansion initiative for 2015, planning to reach an additional 1 million square miles of native coverage in the lower 48 states, and expanded their "Contract Freedom" (now called "Carrier Freedom") promotion to cover device and lease payoffs.

T-Mobile additionally announced that its customers' prices they pay are good forever, as long as they keep service on their lines, including if they utilize promotional pricing.

In Reach program

The In Reach program provides a free cell phone and a limited number of voice minutes each month for low-income-eligible families (one per family) who do not use Lifeline services offered

by any other phone or wireless company. It is funded through the Fund, but is only operational in a limited number of states and Puerto Rico.

MetroPCS

MetroPCS merged with T-Mobile in 2013; the new company formed T-Mobile US and currently continues to offer prepaid wireless services under the MetroPCS brand.

The best T-Mobile phones, as rated by Digital Trends’ expert reviewers.

T-Mobile may seem perpetually stuck in 4th place in the race for wireless subscribers, but it often has some of the most unique devices and best deals of the nationwide carriers. T-Mobile’s high-speed Internet coverage lags behind AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon, but it is making progress. Aside from the iPhone, it also has a great device lineup too, specializing in Android devices. Below are our favorite smart phones currently available on T-Mobile.Our best T-Mobile phones list is continually updated as we review new products that enter the market.

LG G2With the G2, LG is stepping up to the plate. This is a powerful phone with a myriad of simple, but useful new features. Audiophiles and spec junkies should flock to it, and will be available on every major carrier.

Features Touch screen, External Storage, High Resolution Camera, HD Video Recording, 4G

Release Date 10/2013 Release Price $99.99 Operating system Android

Launch OS version 4.2.2

Samsung Galaxy S5The Galaxy S5 is another win for Samsung. If you’re looking to upgrade, there are a lot of watertight reasons to choose GS5.

Features Touchscreen, Front-facing camera, External storage, High resolution camera, HD video recording, 4G

Release date 4/11/2014 Release price $650 Operating system Android Launch OS version 4.4.2

 

Motorola Moto X (2014)Motorola wowed us with the first Moto X, but the second generation is even better. The improved screen, high-end processor, and endlessly customizable design make the 2014 Moto X a true flagship Smartphone.

Release date 9/2014 Release price $99.99 Operating system Android Launch OS version 4.4.4

T-Mobile Launches Green Coupon Application

T-Mobile, USA, Inc. has unveiled a mobile application that offers discounts on “environmentally conscious” products and services. Available for download, the free-of-charge “Green Perks” application brings customers green-oriented offers and promotions from advertisers that include Method, Jamba Juice, Volcom, Roxy and Quicksilver.The opt-in Green Perks application delivers electronic coupons directly to customers’ phones, which can be redeemed manually at a store’s point-of-sale systems. Green Perks is part of the wireless product and Services Company’s recently launched Mobilize initiative, which encompasses multiple products and services designed to help consumers who want to make more eco-friendly choices in their daily lives.

T-Mobile’s Green Perks Web portal lets advertisers create coupons and promotions. Partner brands have control over offer timing and other details, but the offering must qualify as eco-friendly to be listed.

Similarly, for iPhone users, many companies are delivering applications that can help customers find green products. As an example, the Good Guide iPhone application, which is available as a download through Apple’s iTunes App Store or Good Guide’s Text Messaging application, gives a consumer access to more than 70,000 products and ratings, according to Net Squared.

Net Squared also cites 3rdWhale’s new mobile applications to find green spas, restaurants, and bike rental stores. 3rdWhale also offers a Greenpeace guide to recycled tissue and toilet paper, offering recommendations for brands that contain 100-percent overall recycled content.

IPhone and iPod touch customers can also make sustainable seafood choices via the latest Seafood Watch Recommendations through the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood iPhone application, reports Net Squared.

T-Mobile primary customer & total customer around the world

T-Mobile could soon be bigger than Sprint

The tables could turn by the end of this year in the drama of the U.S. mobile underdogs, with T-Mobile possibly passing Sprint to become the third-largest carrier in the country.

That’s the outlook from analyst Chetan Sharma, who says T-Mobile may have more total customers than Sprint within two or three quarters. He also found that carriers are getting most of their new connections from tablets and other connected devices, according to the second-quarter Mobile Future Forward report from Chetan Sharma Consulting, released on Thursday.

While Sprint still has 16 percent of the country’s mobile market, its subscriber rolls are shrinking while T-Mobile, now at 15 percent, keeps growing. T-Mobile has gained customers every quarter since the beginning of last year and is about to erase all the losses it suffered in a slide that began back in 2009, Sharma said. In their most recent quarterly financial reports, T-Mobile reported a net gain of 1.5 million subscribers and Sprint posted a net loss of 220,000.

Those numbers include both postpaid and prepaid subscribers. T-Mobile already has more prepaid customers than Sprint, but postpaid is a more secure source of revenue and financial viability.

Make way for #3

If it passes Sprint’s subscriber numbers, T-Mobile can lay claim to being the third-largest mobile operator in America. In a sense, it would win the battle of the laggards, because AT&T and Verizon still dominate the market with about 68 percent of subscribers—and 68 percent of mobile data revenue—combined.

On Wednesday, Sprint named a new CEO, Marcelo Claure, while backing down from making a widely rumored bid for T-Mobile that was expected to face strong opposition from regulators. The troubled carrier faces an uncertain future even with vast spectrum license holdings and a rich parent company, Japan’s Softbank. But don’t look for T-Mobile to try to buy Sprint any time soon, Sharma said. Parent company Deutsche Telekom has been trying to sell off T-Mobile and shift its resources back to Europe for some time.

Sharma does expect the runner-up carriers to become one player with about 30 percent of the market and a stronger position against AT&T and Verizon. It’s just not clear how or when that will happen, he said.

On Wednesday, U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a statement that “four wireless providers are good for American consumers.” That position might or might not change after a new president is elected in 2016, but a big shift in the market might affect it, too, Sharma said.

“This administration is just not going to allow this unless the facts on the ground change drastically,” he said. “It could be that one of these players starts to really have a sharp decline in their market cap, meaning that Wall Street thinks that they are in real trouble.”

T-Mobile had the best subscriber gain of any carrier in the quarter, but most of the industry’s added connections weren’t new phones. Instead, they were connected devices, which were chiefly tablets but also so-called machine-to-machine equipment such as connected cars, enterprise sensors and health-care devices. Sharma’s study found that 84 percent of net additions were from non-phone devices and that 70 percent of those were tablets.

On an average total customer of T-Mobile

With most cell phone carriers gearing their services toward high-use business clients, John Marick and Greg Pryor founded Consumer Cellular in 1995 with the goal of providing affordable, no-contract cell phone plans to casual mobile users of all ages. The company started out with an emphasis on the Pacific Northwest market, reselling service fromAT&T. After AT&T's merger with Cingular, Consumer Cellular re-negotiated its contract with AT&T to allow national coverage through its network.

In 2008, Consumer Cellular became a preferred provider for AARP members, making the company the first cell phone provider to market to retirees. As result of this partnership, more than 85% of Consumer Cellular's current customers are older than 50. The plans are relatively simple compared to other carriers, and have been advocated by such senior publications as the

Senior Journal.

In June 2010 Consumer Cellular's continued growth led to an expansion and official opening of the company's second U.S.-based customer support center in Phoenix, Arizona In August 2012 Consumer Cellular opened a third U.S.-based customer support center in Oregon. The company currently employs nearly 1,000 personnel between its Tigard, Redmond, and Phoenix locations.

During the summer of 2011, Consumer Cellular announced a partnership with national retailer, Sears. Under the current agreement, four different types of Consumer Cellular phones are sold in 750 Sears’s stores nationwide. In January 2012, it was reported that Consumer Cellular's revenue grew from $17 million to $185 million in six years by selling the newest technology to older American consumers.

In April 2012, the company announced the launch of SIM cards to their product line to be used with phones which use the company's service plans including Apple's iPhone. Consumer Cellular celebrated the company's millionth customer in February 2013 by giving back a million dollars; 100,000 to five non-profit partners and the rest to their employees  In July 2013, the company introduced a Smartphone financing program called Easy Pay that is available to consumers purchasing smart phones that cost $300 and up.

The company partnered with Square Trade in August 2013 to provide its customers with cell phone protection plans Consumer Cellular began a trial run of selling in select Target  in March 2014, which expanded to all stores in October 2014.

Current State of the Firm Portfolio Analysis

T-Mobile USA is part of a large multi-national corporation Deutsche Telekon AG. T-Mobile has a presence in ten European countries: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and the United Kingdom, as well as the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. T-Mobile has either the first or second largest market share in the European countries. In America, T-Mobile has the fourth largest market share, behind AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint.

Overall, the wireless phone service market is a high growth market. Despite this, the market is already very saturated with dealers and subscribers. According to Experian Marketing Services, 98% of adults 22-24 own a cell phone, and this strong status holds over most adults. Ownership decreases among the elderly and young. The highest growth opportunity for mobile phone services lie within upgrading to smart phones and capturing the rest of the market.

Most of the countries in which T-Mobile has a presence are already developed. This gives them a disadvantage because the countries that are currently developed, present the highest opportunity to capture the customers who are currently entering the market.

Because of their lack of offering to developing countries and very small market share in America, T-Mobile has a small market share of a rapidly growing market. This position makes T-Mobile a “question mark” which means that they have a low-share of a high growth market.

(Percent of Americans that own a cell phone (according to age)

SWOT Analysis for T-Mobile

Strength

The strengths of a flourishing company are very important in maintaining and preserving the company’s assets. T-Mobile stands at being the world’s seventh largest wireless provider, and the world’s third largest multi-national provider. T-Mobile also has a very strong brand equity and recognition in the United Kingdom and the United States, making it a key player in the world economy.

Weakness

Many customers of T-Mobile have complained about poor wireless service and many dropped calls while using the service. Customers have also complained about poor customer service such as through delayed refunds, etc. Another concern with T-Mobile is that they have no presence in emerging markets; they only have customers in developed countries.

Opportunities

There are many different opportunities for T-Mobile. T-Mobile is leading the upgrade from 3G to 4G service throughout the United States. Because the iPhone and Apple products have been sweeping the nation with enormous sales, the acquisition of the iPhone to T-Mobile will improve their presence within the industry. The addition and growth of Wi-Fi-enabled tablets will also increase subscriptions in the company.

Threats

Possible threats are always a part and concern to every company that wants to become or sustain its success. With new rises in technology and rising competition within other companies, T-Mobile faces a very strong competitive market including AT&T and Verizon. Another threat that has affected many of other companies is the economic recession in the United States and Europe. Because of the recession, T-Mobile’s business has slowed down. T-Mobile also has a reputation for being slow to adapt to market changes and advances in technology.

Analysis of the Micro Environment

Suppliers

T-Mobile’s main suppliers are its cell phone manufacturers. T-Mobile sells BlackBerry, HTC, LG, My Touch, Nokia, Samsung, and T-Mobile in its stores. Worldwide, Nokia is the top manufacturer of mobile devices while Samsung is the top manufacturer of smart phones. T-Mobile sells wireless phones, smart phones, tablets, and internet devices.

There is fierce competition to contract the latest devices from the suppliers. For example, T-Mobile had a competitive advantage over its competitors because it was the first wireless provider to sell an Android based phone. On the contrary, T-Mobile is the last major wireless provider to acquire the iPhone and for that reason, T-Mobile has lost many customers.

Intermediaries

The intermediaries at T-Mobile include their own retail stores, franchise retail stores, and leased cell sites. They run 2,000 company-run stores and 1,100 branded partner stores throughout the country. T-Mobile told the Wall Street Journal in June that they are still expanding and plan on adding 200 more independently run retail stores throughout the nation this year.

Despite these ambitious plans, the retailers also told the journal that they are slowing down their expansion plans because of the uncertainty about T-Mobile’s future. This past summer T-Mobile and AT&T announce plans for a merger, which ultimately collapsed. Currently, the media is discussing T-Mobile mergers with other smaller competitors such as Sprint/Nextel. This uncertainty is disconcerting to customers, retailers, and employees.

Competitors

T-Mobile’s greatest weakness is its strong competitors. Verizon and AT&T currently have the largest market share of the industry. Also, the Wall Street Journal says that AT&T operates about twice as many stores as T-Mobile: they run about 2,300 company run stores and 3,800 franchises.

All of T-Mobile’s competitors have acquired the iPhone. This is bad news for T-Mobile, as iPhone sales have skyrocketed. According to CNN Money, the iPhone’s market share of all mobile phones increased almost 6% the last quarter of 2011; from 3% to 8.7%. This is a lot of lost business for T-Mobile!

Publics

The publics have recently had a huge impact on T-Mobile’s business. According to T-Mobile’s website, they announced their plans to be bought by AT&T last March. They reported that, with all government approval, the merger should be complete in twelve months.

AT&T planned to purchase T-Mobile and consolidate to become the largest wireless provider in America, beating Verizon. The FCC in Washington fought this merger and denied its passage until AT&T was forced to abandon all negotiations in December. This is not good news for the operators of T-Mobile USA, Deutsche Telekom who, according to the Washington Post, has expressed interest in abandoning business in the states.

Customers

There are roughly 59 billion mobile phone subscribers worldwide, or 87 percent of the population. Of these, India and China have the largest amount of subscriptions; accounting for about 30 percent of the total subscriptions.

Despite the fact that T-Mobile does not have a stake in any of the developing countries, they have about 10 percent of the market share in America. They have many average American subscribers, but in recent times they have been targeting the developing Latino-American community. The Economist reported that T-Mobile has started to strategically open stores in up-

and-coming neighborhoods that are run by Spanish speaking owners. This type of familiarity is unknown in their competitor’s stores, and is very attractive to these new customers.

The Marketing Strategy

Segmentation of T-Mobile Market

When researching online, it was found that little information could be discovered on the demographics of T-Mobile customers. The information listed above shows that T-Mobile only serves 12 percent of the United States population with cell phones, while nearly the entire remainder of the market is monopolized by the companies AT&T and Verizon (phone statistics).

Of such a profitable market in the United States, and the world for that matter, it would be in the companies’ best interest to expand their coverage range as the customer’s demand gets higher. This will be discussed in more depth later. Location is key for a companies’ success, so T-Mobile would benefit from moving into more rural areas, which would allow them the opportunity to take over the Alltel market share, which caters to rural areas, as well as the other nine percent, giving them the prospect of gaining a larger percentage of cell phone customers.

The chart above shows the percentage of T-Mobile customers by region in the United States. As stated before, there was trouble finding demographics on T-Mobile customers, so in lieu of gaining that information the percentages listed were found and averaged from My3cents.com. The cities and states listed in the 50 randomly selected comments were then placed into regions of the country and made into the above graph. Of the regions, the South and West were the most common in their market share which is unsurprising based on an article published back in 2009. Written by Denis Romero, he talks about the growing popularity of T-Mobile amongst the Latino demographic and seeing as how there is a high concentration of Latin Americans in the South and West, it is only natural that those regions would be their highest segmentations.

Targeting

Current Customer

Based on the ratings, found at my3cents.com, the average customers for T-Mobile are

families and single phone carriers. Families: With T-Mobile’s many bundle packages, and well-known low prices, T-Mobile

naturally attracts families who are looking for multiple lines at the cheapest prices.

Especially with all the new technology today, T-Mobile offers unlimited family plans that

provide affordable rates to target and market a large share of the cell phone service

consumers. Single Phone Carriers: Based on the customer reviews, another current customer of T-

Mobile is the single phone holder. It could also be coined the “independent young adult”

category for the reason that many of these clients are either college or recently graduated

students and are looking for the cheapest plans available. With new rising bills and

tuition, this age group tends to lean towards any offer that can save them a few dollars.

Fortunately, T-Mobile offers them the services that they ask for at a low price that

accommodates to their financial needs.

Potential Customers

Business Men and Women: While gathering research for the demographics, there were

many comments from parents as well as students, but there was a large lack of comments

from business men and women. Although T-Mobile is known for their low prices and

bundles, they are not, however, known for their new phone technology or data plans that

the average business consumer is looking for. It would be in T-Mobile’s best interest to

try and break into this market since this group makes up a considerable proportion of the

cell phone usage in America. They could do so by acquiring and offering new models of

phones and more data plans as well.

Positioning

Information gathered and formulated using customer reviews also showed that customers

were very unhappy with the overall reception of the phone that they had paid for. Most

customers barely received service in their own homes or work places, while others could only get

quality reception when they were in a major city. Also, when commenting on the overall phone

models, most were very unhappy with the lack of options as well as the outdated types. When

compared to companies such as Verizon and AT&T whose customers are much happier with

their service and phones, T-Mobile really needs to make some adjustments. It would be most

advantageous for T-Mobile if they were to increase the quality of their reception service to top

their competitors and to make them stand out, as well as to improve the quality of the phones and

make more updated versions available more quickly.

In the perceptual maps above, customer loyalty and customer satisfaction are judged. Based on the research gained from customer reviews, T-Mobile has much that is left to be desired. Out of the fifty comments polled, almost everyone gave a negative comment on either the customer service or the reception. From those comments, many stated that they were leaving T-Mobile to go to another company since they felt ignored, cheated and lied to about their services. Losing customers for poor service is unacceptable for any company. By improving their quality and becoming the leading standard in this field for customer service, they could gain a great deal of customers who would be willing to leave a service provider that they are tired of fighting with.

Final financial profit of T-Mobile

T-Mobile Profit Hits $101M for Q4 2014, Reversing $20M Loss in 2013

T-Mobile also brought in 4.05 million net add postpaid mobile customers for the full year of 2014, while cutting its mobile churn rate to 1.58 percent in 2014.

T-Mobile US grew its fourth-quarter 2014 profit to $101 million, up from a $20 million loss in the same quarter one year ago, while increasing its Q4 revenue to $8.15 billion, up 19.4 percent from the same quarter in 2013.

The company also tallied 4.05 million net add postpaid mobile customers in 2014, giving it 25.8 million customers, which are up 18 percent from 21.8 million one year ago, according to its Feb. 19 earnings announcement.

Profit for the full year of 2014 came in at $247 million, up from $35 million in 2013, while full-year revenue came in at $29.56 billion, an increase of 21 percent from full-year 2013 revenue of $24.42 billion.

Diluted earnings per share for Q4 were 12 cents per share, compared with a 3 cent per share loss one year ago.

T-Mobile's branded postpaid mobile phone churn rate for Q4 was 1.73 percent, which was an increase from the 1.63 percent churn rate one year ago. For the full year, the company's churn rate was 1.58 percent, which was down from the 1.69 percent rate in 2013.

In the fourth quarter, T-Mobile said it sold 8 million Smartphone’s, up from 6.2 million in the same quarter one year ago. For the full year of 2014, the company sold 28 million Smartphone’s, up from 18.3 million in 2013.

"2014 was the best year of growth in company history," John Legere, the president and CEO of T-Mobile, said in a statement. "Our Un-carrier moves helped us blow away the competition. The best is yet to come as the future looks bright in 2015."

Eric Costa, a telecom analyst with Technology Business Research, told eWEEK in an emailed statement that while T-Mobile's recent customer and earnings accomplishments are notable, they won't be sustainable if the company doesn't invest in new growth segments.

Network Expansion and Capital Expenditures

The Company’s network expansion is continuing at an accelerated pace. T-Mobile’s 4G LTE network – America’s Fastest – covered 265 million people at the end of 2014, exceeding the original year-end target of 250 million. The Company is

targeting coverage of 300 million people by year-end 2015. T-Mobile is rapidly deploying Wideband LTE, while at the same time rolling out 4G LTE on its 700 MHz A-Block and 1900 MHz PCS spectrum. At the end of 2014, Wideband LTE was available in 121 market areas and the goal is to expand the service to over 150 market areas by the end of 2015. Building on the A-Block spectrum acquisition from Verizon, the Company continues to expand its 700 MHz A-Block holdings, now reaching approximately 190 million POPs. The Company deployed 700 MHz a-Block spectrum in Cleveland, Colorado Springs, Minneapolis, and Washington DC in 2014, and has already added Houston and D allas in 2015.Cash capital expenditures reflect T-Mobile’s continued investment in network modernization, 4G LTE deployment, and commencement of the 4G LTE rollout on its 700 MHz A-Block and 1900 MHz PCS spectrum. In the fourth quarter of 2014, cash capital

expenditures were $1.3 billion, up from $1.1 billion in the third quarter of 2014 and $0.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013. Cash capital expenditures for 2014 amounted to $4.3 billion, up from $4.2 billion in 2013.In January 2015, the FCC announced that T-Mobile was the winning bidder of AWS-3 spectrum licenses covering approximately 97 million people for an aggregate bid price of $1.8 billion. T-Mobile will pay the FCC $1.4 billion for the AWS-3 spectrum licenses in March 2015, which is net of the $0.4 billion deposit paid to the FCC in October 2014. T-Mobile expects to receive the AWS-3 spectrum licenses, subject to regulatory approval, in the second quarter of 2015.

Corporate social responsibility of T-mobile

Corporate social responsibility

The important thing of corporate social responsibility is to find a balance between people, planet and profit. T-Mobile takes its responsibility for the effects of their business on humans, society and environment.

The CSR initiatives of T-Mobile can be divided into several categories:a. Sustainable businessb. Sustainable products & servicesc. Chain responsibilityd. Sustainable relationships

Sustainable businessCorporate social responsibility starts with your own business. So use all T-Mobile shops and its network 100% green power. In combination of advanced equipment this means an efficient use of green energy. Further T-Mobile attempts to keep on the ISO 14001. This standard ensures that companies are going to focus on managing risks and improving environmental performance.

Sustainable products & servicesTogether with Samsung T-Mobile have released the first green cell phone on the market. These phones are made of recycled materials and have solar cells on the back.

Chain responsibilityAt T-Mobile not only the price but also the production method is important. From 2010 on all the provisions of the Social Charter are included as a part of the purchasing process. The Social Charter has a number of principles which protect the relationships between employees. With the Social Charter T-Mobile stresses the importance of respecting human rights, equal opportunities, health and safety.

Sustainable relationships

Since 2007 T-Mobile has a sustainable relationship with partner War Child. To help War Child T-Mobile put in people and resources. Think of phones, communications links and network connections for employees of War Child.

TOP PHILANTHROPIST AWARD GOES TO T-MOBILE AS PERFORMING BEST CSR

TMCZ wins "Responsible Partnership with Employees" Award "One Day for Your Good Deed" project convinces jury

15 November 2010 – T-Mobile has won first prize in the prestigious TOP Philanthropist contest in the category "Responsible Partnership with Employees 2010", thus repeating its last year's success in receiving the Via Bona award for involving employees in donor and volunteer activities. TOP Philanthropist is an international award for socially responsible enterprises granted by Business for the Society. The award ceremony was held on November 11 in Prague's Scare Coeur chapel. We entered the contest with our "One Day for Your Good Deed" project which has been held by our company since 2005. We were among the first Czech companies to provide our employees with an extra free and paid day for voluntary activities. We are trying to involve the maximum number of employees in our CSR activities, which is why we offer them such a wide range of possibilities. We want everyone to be able to choose," says Petra Pavičová, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at T-Mobile. The popularity of the volunteering day keeps increasing. In 2009, nearly 600 employees worked for non-profit organizations (i.e. nearly every fourth employee), including the top management. Within the five-year existence of the “One Day for Your Good Deed" project, our employees have worked in total 13,760 hours out of 1,729 days for the benefit of non-profit organizations. The award ceremony held in Prague's Scare Coeur chapel was attended by Roland Mahler, Managing Director of T-Mobile and originator of the company's CSR activities. When receiving the award he stated: “Without the involvement of our employees, CSR cannot work. We are therefore truly happy that the number of employees involved has been growing steadily every year. This year over 600 employees took part."The seventh year of the TOP Philanthropist international award granted by Business for the Society to socially responsible enterprises was organized together with the Czech Donors Forum, Czech TOP

100 and other institutions. Finalists in the “Responsible Partnership with Employees 2010" category, which T-Mobile won, were evaluated also by the criteria used under the European Employee Volunteering Awards 2011, held as part of the European Year of Volunteering 2011. In total, 22 European countries participated in the international “European Award for Employee Volunteering" programmers.

CSR Performance of Blackberry competitors of T-Mobile

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) has come bottom of a list of the world's greenest electronics firms. The Canadian-based mobile maker is featured for the first time in the quarterly Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics, published on Wednesday and ranking 15 top electronic companies by their environmental policies and the impact of their products.

According to the campaign group, RIM does not have a clean electricity plan or a target to increase use of renewable energy. Its products are energy inefficient, and it is a member of a trade association that has attacked stringent energy efficiency standards, Greenpeace says.

Although the report is not designed to be a product guide for consumers, it does allow for a comparison of the leading manufacturers of PCs, TVs and mobile phones.

"Right now, HP takes the top spot because it is scoring strongly by measuring and reducing carbon emissions from its supply chain, reducing its own emissions and advocating for strong climate legislation. However all companies we included in the guide have an opportunity to show more leadership in reducing their climate impact," said Greenpeace International campaigner Tom Dowd all.

Dell takes second position, making a dramatic improvement from its 10th position in the last guide. The computer manufacturer scores well for having the most ambitious climate target, with plans to reduce its emissions by 40% by 2020, and a strong policy on sustainable paper sourcing. After three years at the top, Nokia has slipped from first place to third, mainly due to weaker performance on the energy criteria.

The guide, which assesses companies based on their public information only, was first started in August 2006. It was set out mainly to put pressure on manufacturers to reduce the amount of toxic chemicals such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominates flame retardants (BFRs).

Greenpeace claims it has already prompted improvements - particularly noticeable for mobile phones and PCs, with less progress having been made on TVs.

In response to the progress, the environmental watch group added new criteria and challenged firms to reduce their carbon footprint in manufacturing, in their supply chain and through to the end-of-life phase of their products and to set ambitious goals for renewable energy use. The latest version of the guide also features new criteria for the sourcing of paper, conflict minerals and product life cycle.

A RIM spokeswoman told the Guardian: "We are continuing to improve our sustainability practices and have a number of initiatives underway."

A Nokia spokesman said: "We are still No1 compared to any other mobile and device manufacturer; we stick to our sustainability targets."

Recommendation

The objective of this Paper was to investigate how T-mobile Company succeeds in business by CSR. It is very interesting to see how T-Mobile has operated its business ethics. Especially the mission statement which is talking about how T-Mobile runs its business by using several components to create a good relationship with its suppliers, partners (employees), customers, communities, the stakeholders, and also how they are caring for the environment. The other interesting things about T-Mobile are its code of conducts, which show that T-Mobile has collaborated with farmers in orders to gain a high quality of products at the same time that it improves the famers life and environment. T-Mobile has ran its business by driving Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a tool that covers the company in every

sector of their business. Let’s take the environment, for example. T-Mobile is really concerned about affecting the environment. By utilizing innovative technologies to improve the effectiveness in its processes, they reduce costs and at the same time they are preserving the environment. In terms of social strategies, T-Mobile has splendid strategies to cooperate with its partners and stakeholders. T-Mobile has created a lot of activities to encourage communities and to create long term relationships with them, which reflects on their brand. In terms of economics, T-Mobile is not only thinking about its benefits but also for all parties related with their business, by following the laws of each country. T-Mobile has managed to create fair trade with its suppliers, customers, and even for their competitors. It has made T-Mobile very successful in its economic situation .

Moreover, CSR can build competitive advantage over competitors that T-Mobile gain more competitive advantage by engaging in CSR into every part the company. Specially, the company focuses on their suppliers and partners (employees) which they have run business as sustainable together. We think that the company has come to correct the way to run business by fully practicing CSR and keeping their market position. From what we investigated, a company’s CSR practice relates to numerous different behavioral aspects within a company. Many organizations argue that companies engaged in CSR can obtain increased sales and market share, reduce costs and increased interest from investors, improved employees motivation, improved brand awareness and image of the Company. However, we think that the company’s CSR investments will affect the company’s performance positively as customers value CSR activities. It is the reason why the company has succeeded in business world by CSR. As presented in this study, CSR has been growing in recent years and many companies are starting to participate in CSR to run business in which they see the benefit from CSR.

Moreover, nowadays customers are starting to demand that companies take their social responsibility.

References

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Mobile 2. http://investor.tmobile.com/Mobile/OfficersandDirectors.aspx?

iid=40911453. http://investor.t-mobile.com/od.aspx?iid=4091145 4. http://www.t-mobile.mk/public/vision.nspx

5. http://whoseint-mosfaves.blogspot.com/2009/02/t-mobiles-mission- statement.html

6. http://www.digitaltrends.com/best-t-mobile-phones/ 7. http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/06/30/t-mobile-launches-green-

coupon-application/8. http://www.pcworld.com/article/2463020/tmobile-could-soon-be-bigger-

than-sprint.html9. http://www.eweek.com/mobile/t-mobile-profit-hits-101m-for-q4-2014-

reversing-20m-loss-in-2013.html10.http://fleur-huigsloot.blogspot.com/2011/01/11-corporate-social-

responsibility.html11.http://t-press.cz/en/press-releases/press-news-archive/top-philanthropist-

award-goes-to-t-mobile.html12.http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/nov/09/blackberry-

greenpeace-electronics