Will overtake Sprint by end of year, says T-Mobile

San Diego News .Net Thursday 7th August, 2014

WASHINGTON - Chief executive of T-Mobile US, John J. Legere, who is known for being outspoken, tweeted Thursday that the company plans to overtake Sprint Corp as the No. 3 wireless U.S. carrier in subscribers by the end of the year.

The declaration came a day after T-Mobile announced it has surpassed Sprint as the No. 1 wireless provider for prepaid customers, with 15.64 million customers, compared with Sprint's 15.19 million.

The figures put T-Mobile, which calls itself the "uncarrier" well ahead of rivals ATandT and Verizon in the prepaid market. Verizon and ATandT hold a larger share of the more profitable postpaid U.S. subscriber base.

"I predict the uncarrier will overtake @Sprint in total customers by the end of the year! There, I said it!," tweeted Legere.

A spokeswoman for Sprint declined comment.

After Sprint officially announced on Wednesday that it had abandoned its plans to buy T-Mobile, Legere took the gloves off on Twitter.

"Is Sprint a melting ice cube? Looks like it to me. Join the cool brand now!" he taunted in one post.

"Join T-Mobile now and jump off the Sprint bus before it crashes," he tweeted in another.

The tweets reflect the reignited competition between the third and fourth biggest US wireless service providers.

T-Mobile has introduced various new pricing plans and is adding record numbers of subscribers through its innovative promotions and campaigns.

In comparison, Sprint customers have been leaving in droves because of service problems arising from carrier's network overhaul.

Sprint's parent company, SoftBank Corp, walked away from its offer to buy T-Mobile and replaced Sprint CEO Dan Hesse with Miami businessman Marcelo Claure.

SoftBank agreed to buy most of Sprint for $20 billion nearly two years ago and had its eye on acquiring T-Mobile to create a rival to the giants of the United States wireless industry, Verizon and ATT.

But government regulators made it clear that they would oppose a combination of two of the four biggest phone service providers.

"Four national wireless providers are good for American consumers," Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said in a statement on Wednesday. "Sprint now has an opportunity to focus their efforts on robust competition."

Iliad, a French mobile upstart, has offered to buy a 56.6 percent stake in T-Mobile for about $15 billion. And Dish Network, the satellite TV operator controlled by the billionaire Charles Ergen, has hinted in recent months that it may also be interested in a deal.