Tag Archives: T-Mobile US

T-Mobile

T-Mobile Slow Speeds for “Unlimited” Customers Will Cost $48M to the Carrier

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The FCC has made it clear that T-Mobile slow speeds for “unlimited” customers lacked transparency and will cost the carrier around $48 million or more.

T-Mobile

“The nation’s third-largest mobile network operator will pay a fine and provide benefits to consumers totaling $48 million as a part of a settlement regarding its policies that slowed data speeds for both T-Mobile and MetroPCS customers who exceeded their monthly data allotments” sources confirmed.

“The FCC’s investigation found that the company policy allows it to slow down data speeds when T-Mobile or MetroPCS customers on so-called ‘unlimited’ plans exceed a monthly data threshold,” the Commission said in a press release. “Company advertisements and other disclosures may have led unlimited data plan customers to expect that they were buying better and faster service than what they received.”

The FCC has confirmed it received complaints from the carrier’s customers regarding its unlimited data plan which gave false information to the users. The data plans that had been marketed as unlimited included “de-prioritized” speeds once monthly data allotments were reached. The commission further added “T-Mobile slows data speeds for its heaviest users who’ve consumed their monthly data quotas when network traffic is particularly heavy.

“According to consumers, this policy rendered data services ‘unusable’ for many hours each day and substantially limited their access to data,” the FCC said. “The bureau believes that the company failed to adequately inform its ‘unlimited’ data plan customers that their data would be slowed at times if they used more than 17 GB in a given month.”

The deal requires T-Mobile to pay a $7.5 million fine to the U.S. Treasury as well as funding “a $35.5 million consumer benefit program” for customers affected by its “unlimited” policies.

The carrier also agreed to spend at least $5 million to provide free devices to students in low-income school districts and free mobile broadband services to those devices at a reduced cost to the schools. The program will be launched in October 2017 and enroll 5,000 students per quarter over four years.

Sprint

Sprint Chief Experience Officer Johnson to Leave Company Next Month, Will be Replaced by Former T-Mobile Exec

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Bob Johnson, Chief Experience Officer at Sprint will leave the company next month, just 14 months after being named to the position. The struggling carrier said, in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that “Johnson’s tenure will end April 29. A Sprint representative said she had no comment on the move.”

SprintIt has been confirmed that Robert Hackl, named President of National Sales, will replace Johnson. Hackl has worked as Senior Vice President of Channel Management at T-Mobile US from 2010 to 2013. Hackl will join Sprint April 1, reporting to CEO Marcelo Claure.

Claure had named Johnson to the newly created role in November 2014 as part of a flurry of front-office moves that saw Marcelo- relatively new to his position as CEO- put his stamp on the organization. Those moves included the departure of several longtime executives including CMO Jeff Hallock, who was briefly replaced by Kevin Crull in May 2015. In other front-office shakeups three months ago, Crull was placed in charge of Sprint’s central U.S. region and Roger Solé was named CMO.

Johnson was “responsible for delivering a world-class customer experience at all customer touch-points,” Claure said at the time he named Johnson to the post, expanding his role overseeing Sprint’s customer care and IT groups. A 32-year veteran of the telecom industry, Johnson joined Nextel in 1998.

Sprint’s fourth-quarter earnings have substantially exceeded Wall Street estimates, but still the company is facing serious challenges. Perhaps this is the reason that these moves are happening. The operator continues to work to cut as much as $2.5 billion from its budget. It slashed 2,500 jobs in January during a third round of layoffs and it carries more than $30 billion in debt of which $2.3 billion comes due this year.