I’ve been telling you for weeks that the plan for the New T-Mobile is all about bringing a supercharged Un-carrier to American consumers… and we plan to do just that starting with our commitments not to raise prices, to create jobs, to deliver the country’s most transformative 5G network, and to better serve the underserved. But you don’t have to simply take my word for it. We have a track record when it comes to delivering on the commitments we’ve made – and today I’m going to share some of that.
I know that the opposition is out saying we won’t follow through and that all the goodness of this merger won’t happen. There are some who have been burned before – they have seen how other mergers did not deliver what was promised. And then there are others who have ulterior motives. They want to scare you because they are scared to death of the potential of the New T-Mobile. From rumors to outright lies, they are doing their best to cast doubt. I’ve talked before about how Verizon, AT&T and the Cableopoly don’t like change, (though I don’t think they like me much either ud83dude0a). That means that when they see a company like T-Mobile potentially getting stronger and poised to become a full-scale competitor, they panic! They are threatened by the New T-Mobile’s plans to upend the broken system they protect – and they SHOULD be - because we’ve done this before, and we are ready to do this again. Just take a look.
Six years ago, two wireless innovators with legacies of disrupting the status quo to better serve customers – MetroPCS and T-Mobile – came together in what FORTUNE referred to as “one of the more surprisingly successful mergers in telecommunications history.” Next week marks the 6th anniversary of that merger, and today we are marching down the path to bring T-Mobile and Sprint together, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to reflect on how we did exactly what we said we would do - execute a more efficient, seamless and faster integration than anyone thought possible. We even exceeded our own expectations! (…and spoiler alert – we’re ready to do it again!)
Haters gonna hate.
Rewind six years. Well-funded opposition groups and competitors made sweeping claims about our inability to successfully merge the two companies and the thousands of jobs that would be lost. They made it seem as if the sky was falling (sound familiar??)… but it was complete and utter nonsense. Let's break down what actually happened.
The same haters said… our merger with MetroPCS would be “a hugely complex and challenging network migration” that would take significant time and investment, a major risk for derailing the benefits of the deal… Yet we quickly delivered – with lightning fast LTE! We said we would rapidly migrate all our customers and we did! Our team was able to seamlessly bring 70% of Metro subscribers over within 15 months and complete the full migration within 26 months. That included MetroPCS to T-Mobile migration in key markets like Florida and Los Angeles that had a similar customer scale then to Sprint in those markets today. For example, in Florida we migrated 2.48 million customers – that would be 2.35 million with Sprint. In Los Angeles it was 1.43 million with MetroPC; with Sprint it will be 1.46 million.
And the best part? Metro customers went from a largely regional network based on a dying network standard to a national network on a blazing fast LTE network. Today Metro customers are consuming an average of 12X more data every month vs 2013 – and paying far lower prices per GB of data. Win-win! T-Mobile, Metro customers now enjoy lightning fast LTE, nationwide coverage, a full spectrum of phones – including the latest releases, and all at amazing prices. Here’s a telling fact… when we announced the transaction, the question everyone had was of the 8.9 million Metro customers, how many can T-Mobile hold onto? Well, Metro had 8.9 million customers on the day T-Mobile and Metro became one… now we have nearly 19M Metro customers! Seems like we’re doing something right!
The same haters said… the Metro acquisition would lead to “significant” job losses and likely produce lower quality service (hmmmm… I’ve heard this somewhere before recently) …Yet we delivered more jobs with better benefits than ever! We created thousands of new jobs supporting Metro by doubling Metro’s customer base and expanding to serve new markets. The same group that is predicting job losses at the New T- Mobile – predicted we would eliminate up to 10,000 jobs in the MetroPCS acquisition. How did that prediction fare? Since 2013, we added tens of thousands of new jobs, including Metro and Metro dealer employees who support the Metro brand. We brought Metro employees into the family with great pay and benefits, including many of which they may not have had before – from medical, dental and vision to childcare subsidies, paid parental leave, stock grants and tuition coverage. This is why we’ve been recognized as a best place to work on numerous lists year after year.
The haters also said… the MetroPCS brand as we know it would not be retained and along with it, choice for value-conscious consumers would go away… Yet we’ve successfully continued to grow the business by targeting new customer segments and driving success at both. We’ve continued to give value-conscious consumers a trade-off free wireless experience. In fact, customers on our $40 plan today receive 20X more data vs 2013 and all on a far superior network! We not only followed through on our promises – we continue to build on this combination:
- Metro USED to cover just 103 million people in 2013. Metro by T-Mobile NOW runs on the T-Mobile network which covers over 325 million people, that's 99% of people in the US!
- Metro USED to just offer a few handsets. NOW, Metro offers a wide variety of both Android and iOS smartphones for every price point, including the absolute latest releases.
- Metro USED to operate in just 15 markets and NOW it’s in 77!
- Metro USED to reach 4,500 retail locations. Today it's NATIONWIDE with more than 10,000 retail locations -more than any other wireless brand - that serve as local customer help centers, in addition to places to shop for new plans and phones.
That's 5X the number of markets and 2X the distribution. And by the way, Metro's success story has only just begun! Metro is on the cusp of its next phase of growth - and we're excited for its future!
You can see that our incredible results from the Metro acquisition and subsequent integration is a great proof point as to why consumers should have NO DOUBT that if the merger is approved, the New T-Mobile will deliver on ALL our promises and more. Note, it’s also why the competition and the deal opposition are trying so desperately to stop this deal. They absolutely know that we will deliver for this country and for wireless consumers everywhere! We’re good at this, we take it seriously and -- listen closely – we WILL do it again with the New T-Mobile!
So, just to recap what we plan to do for consumers and what you can count on the New T-Mobile to deliver after deal approval… With a nearly $40 billion investment over the first three years, we will build the first broad and deep - and transformative - nationwide 5G network, a supercharged Un-carrier that will give customers more at same or lower prices, and we will be jobs positive from day one and everyday thereafter. My leadership team at the New T-Mobile will use the same commitment, energy, know-how, tools and approach to bring Sprint customers over as we did for MetroPCS. We will ensure existing subscribers migrate to the new network seamlessly!
As we celebrate the anniversary of our successful integration with Metro, we look forward to the future as the New T-Mobile. Just like we did six years ago - and continue to do today - we WILL deliver on ALL of our promises. You can count on that.
John
Información adicional importante
En relación con la transacción propuesta, T-Mobile US, Inc. (“T-Mobile”) presentó una declaración de inscripción en el formulario S-4 (expediente n.° 333-226435), declarada en plena vigencia por la Comisión de Valores y Bolsa de los Estados Unidos (“SEC”) el 29 de octubre de 2018, que contiene una declaración de solicitud de consentimiento conjunto de T-Mobile y Sprint Corporation (“Sprint”), y que además constituye un prospecto de T-Mobile (la “declaración de solicitud de consentimiento conjunto/prospecto”). Cada una de las partes presentará otros documentos relacionados con la transacción propuesta ante la SEC. SE EXHORTA A LOS INVERSIONISTAS Y TITULARES DE VALORES A LEER LA DECLARACIÓN DE SOLICITUD DE CONSENTIMIENTO CONJUNTO/PROSPECTO Y DEMÁS DOCUMENTACIÓN PERTINENTE PRESENTADA ANTE LA SEC CUANDO ESTÉ DISPONIBLE, YA QUE CONTENDRÁ INFORMACIÓN IMPORTANTE. The documents filed by T-Mobile may be obtained free of charge at T-Mobile’s website, at www.t-mobile.com, or at the SEC’s website, at www.sec.gov, or from T-Mobile by requesting them by mail at T-Mobile US, Inc., Investor Relations, 1 Park Avenue, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10016, or by telephone at 212-358-3210. The documents filed by Sprint may be obtained free of charge at Sprint’s website, at www.sprint.com, or at the SEC’s website, at www.sec.gov, or from Sprint by requesting them by mail at Sprint Corporation, Shareholder Relations, 6200 Sprint Parkway, Mailstop KSOPHF0302-3B679, Overland Park, Kansas 66251, or by telephone at 913-794-1091.
No es oferta ni propuesta comercial
Esta comunicación no constituye una oferta para vender ni una propuesta comercial de una oferta de compra de valores, ni habrá venta de valores en ninguna jurisdicción en la que dicha oferta, propuesta comercial o venta se considere ilegal con anterioridad a la inscripción o calificación, conforme a la legislación sobre valores vigente en dicha jurisdicción. No se podrán ofrecer valores, excepto por medio de un prospecto que cumpla con los requisitos de la sección 10 de la Ley de Valores de EE.UU. de 1933, y sus posteriores enmiendas.
Advertencia en relación con las declaraciones a futuro
Esta comunicación contiene ciertas declaraciones a futuro con respecto a T-Mobile, Sprint y la transacción propuesta entre T-Mobile y Sprint. Todas las declaraciones que no sean declaraciones de hecho, incluida la información sobre resultados futuros, son declaraciones a futuro. Estas declaraciones a futuro generalmente se identifican mediante las palabras “anticipar”, “creer”, “estimar”, “suponer”, “pretender”, “puede”, “podría” o expresiones similares. Dichas declaraciones a futuro incluyen, entre otras, declaraciones sobre los beneficios de la transacción propuesta, incluidos futuros resultados financieros y operativos previstos, sinergias, tasas de aumento y crecimiento, los planes, objetivos, expectativas e intenciones de T-Mobile, de Sprint y de la compañía combinada, y el plazo previsto para completar la transacción propuesta. Existen varios factores que podrían ocasionar que los planes y resultados reales difieran de manera sustancial de los expresados o implícitos en las declaraciones a futuro. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the failure to obtain, or delays in obtaining, required regulatory approvals, and the risk that such approvals may result in the imposition of conditions that could adversely affect the combined company or the expected benefits of the proposed transaction, or the failure to satisfy any of the other conditions to the proposed transaction on a timely basis or at all; the occurrence of events that may give rise to a right of one or both of the parties to terminate the business combination agreement; adverse effects on the market price of T-Mobile’s or Sprint’s common stock and on T-Mobile’s or Sprint’s operating results because of a failure to complete the proposed transaction in the anticipated timeframe or at all; inability to obtain the financing contemplated to be obtained in connection with the proposed transaction on the expected terms or timing or at all; the ability of T-Mobile, Sprint and the combined company to make payments on debt or to repay existing or future indebtedness when due or to comply with the covenants contained therein; adverse changes in the ratings of T-Mobile’s or Sprint’s debt securities or adverse conditions in the credit markets; negative effects of the announcement, pendency or consummation of the transaction on the market price of T-Mobile’s or Sprint’s common stock and on T-Mobile’s or Sprint’s operating results, including as a result of changes in key customer, supplier, employee or other business relationships; significant transaction costs, including financing costs, and unknown liabilities; failure to realize the expected benefits and synergies of the proposed transaction in the expected timeframes or at all; costs or difficulties related to the integration of Sprint’s network and operations into T-Mobile; the risk of litigation or regulatory actions; the inability of T-Mobile, Sprint or the combined company to retain and hire key personnel; the risk that certain contractual restrictions contained in the business combination agreement during the pendency of the proposed transaction could adversely affect T-Mobile’s or Sprint’s ability to pursue business opportunities or strategic transactions; effects of changes in the regulatory environment in which T-Mobile and Sprint operate; changes in global, political, economic, business, competitive and market conditions; changes in tax and other laws and regulations; and other risks and uncertainties detailed in the Form S-4, as well as in T-Mobile’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 and in its subsequent reports on Form 10-Q, including in the sections thereof captioned “Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” as well as in its subsequent reports on Form 8-K, all of which are filed with the SEC and available at www.sec.gov and www.t-mobile.com. Las declaraciones a futuro se basan en expectativas y suposiciones actuales, que están sujetas a riesgos e incertidumbres que pueden ocasionar que los resultados reales sean sustancialmente diferentes de los expresados o implícitos en dichas declaraciones a futuro. En virtud de estos riesgos e incertidumbres, se exhorta a los lectores de esta comunicación a no basarse indebidamente en dichas declaraciones a futuro. T-Mobile no asume ningún tipo de obligación de actualizar o modificar la información contenida en esta comunicación (ya sea como resultado de la nueva información, acontecimientos futuros o algún otro factor), a menos que así lo exija la legislación vigente.