Legere blasts ‘duopoloy’ in series of seven tweets; concludes that he can ‘stay on vacation’
T-Mobile US CEO John Legere, continuing his outspoken posture against rivals, on Tuesday posted a series of seven tweets laying into Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility, the top two domestic service providers.
Legere, who is apparently on vacation, prefaced his concise arguments by saying that in his absence, “The carriers don’t know what to do with themselves!”
From there, Legere began with Verizon, noting that, “They must be thankful for tablets!”
That’s in reference to Verizon’s recent financial reports, which indicate the addition of 1.1 million new postpaid subscribers with 852,000 coming from the addition of tablets.
Legere then took on Verizon Wireless’ reduction of roaming rates for customers traveling to Mexico and Canada. Verizon’s rate structure falls short of a similar T-Mobile US initiative, prompting Legere to call the competitor offering “half-assed.”
Next, Legere focused on the planned 2016 spectrum auction. T-Mobile US has lobbied the Federal Communications Commission to set aside more reserve spectrum in an effort to increase competition in the wireless space as a function of access to spectral resources.
He tweeted that Verizon “says they may not even participate in low-band spectrum auction. Maybe because you and [AT&T] already control 73%?!” That was followed with: “After all, the #duopoly must keep wireless choice to a minimum. #Typical.”
Legere then set his sights on AT&T’s recent announcement that customers on the Next upgrade plan would be subject to a $15 activation fee, which the T-Mobile US chief called “absurd. And really, an activation fee, now?! Wonder if this has anything to do with [AT&T’s] earnings on Thursday… hmmmm.”
He comes full-circle in the seventh tweet of the series: “In conclusion, it looks like I could stay on vacation for a while…these guys are self-destructing without any help from me…”
