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T-Mobile USA sees return to subscriber growth by 2014
2013-01-10 09:18:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) T-Mobile USA expects to return to steady subscriber growth by the end of this year. CEO John Legere said the carrier has put in place the necessary pieces -- the iPhone, a faster network and a service plan that lets customers buy phones in installments -- to end subscriber losses by next year. There will be some "incremental" monthly user gains by the fourth quarter of this year and subscriber numbers "should be positive" in 2014, Legere said in an interview at CES with Bloomberg. "It won't be linear, but it should be sustainable," Legere said. The launch of Apple products and end to handset subsidies should be implemented within 3-4 months, the CEO expects. Legere declined to disclose details about the company's agreement with Apple, except to say that the products would launch sooner rather than later, along with its subsidy elimination plan. "They're all, I would call them, in three to four months as opposed to six to nine months," Legere told Reuters in an interview in Las Vegas. The CEO said acquisitions, including the pending merger with MetroPCS, could also boost growth. For example, Legere said he could explore a relationship with satellite TV provider Dish Network or a combination with smaller rival Leap Wireless. Leap is "one of those things that makes extreme sense for us to look at" Legere said. While no talks have been held with Dish, the CEO said "they'd be interesting for us to talk to and we'd be fascinating for them".
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Category:Telecommunications