T-Mobile readies shared data plans for business; no early termination fees
T-Mobile USA plans to lure new business customers with
shared data plans and no early termination fees, similar to some recent
promotions the carrier announced for consumers.
The fourth-largest U.S. carrier plans to announce a
number of business-specific offers in coming months, along with its release of
smartphone models sought by corporate customers, such as the Apple iPhone 5 and
upcoming BlackBerry Z10, said Frank Sickinger, senior vice president of
business sales, in an interview with Computerworld.
With compelling business plans and promotions along with
new CEO John Legere who Sickinger says is "in fighting shape ... we are
ready to go head-to-head to give our customers an advantage and put our
competition on the ropes."
Sickinger called T-Mobile the "un-carrier" for
the various initiatives it has in store. He didn't say when the
business-targeted promotions would begin.
Legere set the stage for T-Mobile's aggressive promotions
plan in early January when he announced a $70 a month, no annual contract 4G
data plan for consumers.
Sickinger said that if T-Mobile is not providing a heavy
subsidy for the cost of smartphones for businesses, then "absolutely we
will do business where we do not have any hooks in the contract -- that will
differentiate us from the competition."
"If we have a business that says they have 5,000
tablets deployed and they are Wi-Fi-only and then wants them mobile broadband
enabled, we want to give them MiFi units ... as a monthly service. These will
be shared data plans, pooled data. We'll put a lot of emphasis around that over
the next few weeks. We'll have unlimited voice and truly unlimited 4G data on
consumer and in B2B too," Sickinger added.
Verizon Wireless on Jan. 24 launched two shared data
plans for businesses, the first of its kind in the industry. At the time,
analysts predicted that other carriers would follow suit.
Since its deal to merge with AT&T fell through late
last year, T-Mobile has been infused with "new energy," Sickinger
said. The carrier plans to launch LTE markets soon as well as LTE-ready phones
like the iPhone 5 and BlackBerry Z10.
Business customers are asking for both, he said. T-Mobile
already offers the Galaxy Note II on LTE. T-Mobile remains committed to
offering many Android phones and is an Android leader.
BlackBerry has said the Z10 will be available on T-Mobile
and the networks of other major U.S. carriers in mid-March.
"Z10 makes BlackBerry relevant with a much better
Web experience and the Balance [dual personality] feature," Sickinger
said."It's a new standard for them and people will use that. The feedback
and response to the Z10 has been very positive."
Sickinger, appointed to his post in December, said that
there are some 900 T-Mobile salespeople charged with attracting business
customers. The specialized salesforce that will increase "by
hundreds" in coming months.
A special multinational corporate sales group is in place
and offers a popular Wi-Fi calling option for international travelers.
In Europe, Wi-Fi calls from Paris to London (and between
other cities) are treated as local calls and there's a $50 a month unlimited
data access plan in Europe, with the speed throttled at 130 Kbps, fast enough
to download emails and do other work.
Sickinger conceded that gaps in T-Mobile's national
network coverage made it hard for business travelers to connect without
expensive roaming to other carriers in some areas outside of major cities.
"Not to say that our network's perfect, but it has
improved so much in recent years," Sickinger said. "T-Mobile has a
strong domestic footprint and strong roaming agreements and there's no charge
for domestic roaming."
T-Mobile plans to spend $4 billion to upgrade 37,000 cell
towers to HSPA+ and LTE in the next two years. LTE is expected to reach 200
million people by the end of 2013, he said.
"We're changing the game," Sickinger said.
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