For those of you youngsters who don’t remember John Legere, the man was a brilliant CEO who took T-Mobile from its last place spot among the Big 4 U.S. wireless carriers and turned it into the most exciting, innovative, and popular wireless provider it is today. By the time Legere left in 2020 to be replaced by his right-hand man, Mike Sievert, T-Mobile was second among the Big 3 (after T-Mobile swallowed Sprint).
John Legere was the guy who turned around T-Mobile
The thing about Legere was that he wasn’t your traditional wireless CEO. He really did put customers first and under his reign T-Mobile got rid of the subsidized two-year contract, started offering perks like Netflix on Us and T-Mobile Tuesdays. He also constantly made fun of Verizon and AT&T calling them “Dumb and Dumber” for example. He also seemed to appreciate the actual devices that T-Mobile sold, something you don’t see from most CEOs in the industry.No, Legere certainly did not look like a corporate executive with his shoulder-length hair. Instead of wearing pinstriped suits, Legere wore T-Mobile t-shirts (in Magenta, of course) and sneakers. He also had a great wit, which he used to attack AT&T and Verizon. In 2019, he was named as the best CEO in wireless for the fifth consecutive year, and the fourth best CEO overall. Almost every T-Mobile rep I spoke with who was around in the Legere days loved the guy.
Srini Gopalan certainly has pro-customer instincts
These same T-Mobile reps whom I spoke with told me that Mike Sievert changed when he took over from Legere. His five and a half years as T-Mobile CEO were not happy ones for customers as they had to deal with reps who wouldn’t sell them a new phone unless they were buying insurance, power adapters, cases, screen protectors and more. Making matters worse, some reps took it upon themselves to add these to customer’s orders without their consent, all in the name of meeting their monthly performance targets.Sievert’s replacement, Srini Gopalan, who was Chief Operating Officer (COO) at T-Mobile from 2023 to 2025, seems to have some John Legere in him. Today, Gopalan hosted an Un-carrier event. Eschewing a tie and jacket for a white pullover shirt and blazer with the T-Mobile logo pinned on it, Gopalan appears to have the same pro-customer instincts as Legere. During the event today, the CEO took us back through the history of T-Mobile‘s rise.
T-Mobile CEO Srini Gopalan has a bit of Legere inside him. | Image credit-CNBC
“Twelve years ago, a small company decided to challenge the industry for the good of the customer. [It] decided to focus on smashing customer pain points.” Gopalan says that T-Mobile is the company that is focused on smashing customer pain points. He goes on to say that T-Mobile is challenging the biggest rule in the industry which is that you can either have the best network or the best value. He adds that because of T-Mobile, “you don’t have to pay a stupidly high price just because you think you’re getting the best network. Or you don’t have to get the best value only if you get a network that sucks.” It sounds like something John Legere might have said.
Can the new CEO clean up some of the negative issues affecting T-Mobile?
Gopalan says that T-Mobile delivers the best value, the best experience, and the best network. He even took a line from Legere when he said “We won’t stop” during the festivities. During today’s announcement, T-Mobile said that using the controversial T-Life app, customers from AT&T and Verizon can switch to T-Mobile in 15 minutes. An AI-powered beta running in the app called Easy Switch will look at the plans subscribed to by AT&T and Verizon customers and recommend T-Mobile plans to switch to.
This recommendation will include savings from the switch and list benefits and perks that the consumer would receive by switching to T-Mobile. These are benefits and perks that the the two-rival wireless providers don’t offer their customers.
Considering Legere’s legacy and the way he turned around T-Mobile, it would be great for the company and its subscribers if Gopalan continues to remind me of John Legere. If I could make a suggestion, what he needs to do is get rid of the metrics program that forces reps to take advantage of customers just so they can meet their monthly performance goals.
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