T-Mobile, one of the top three US phone carriers, is following in the footsteps of one of its main competitors as it rapidly loses loyal customers.
In September, T-Mobile made it loud and clear that it was moving in a new direction when it named Srini Gopalan as its new CEO, officially replacing Mike Sievert, who had held the position for more than five years, on November 1st.
The change comes after T-Mobile disclosed in its most recent earnings report that during the third quarter of this year, its postpaid phone rate (the number of customers who canceled their phone service) rose three basis points year over year.
The increased customer losses follow the phone operator’s recent price increases, the removal of discounts and phone plan changes. As more Americans struggle with higher costs of living nationwide, many are exploring cheaper phone plan options with non-traditional carriers, according to a recent Oxio survey.
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T-Mobile is losing more customers to its competitors.Shuttershock/Helen89
Approximate 90% of consumers would consider alternatives to traditional carriers.
Also, 85% consider the cost to be a primary factor in selecting the mobile phone provider.
In addition, 46% of consumers consider a lower-priced plan as the main reason to switch providers, while 33% prioritize better network coverage. Source: Oxio
“Research shows that many consumers are looking for greater plan clarity and value — they want services that match what they actually use,” Oxio CcxEO Nicolas Girard said in a statement. “We’re seeing strong interest in personalization, transparency and more control over mobile services.”
Gopalan previously announced that T-Mobile is undergoing a “digital transformation” to solve customer problems.
“The amount of friction and frustration we’re causing customers today because of our processes and the state of evolution in this industry is phenomenal,” Gopalan said during an October earnings call. “We have a huge opportunity to change that through our digital transformation.”
One of the significant changes that appears to be part of T-Mobile’s digital transformation is that customers will depend solely on its T-Life app to manage upgrades, new lines, account activations and other tasks until January 2026.
As this new transformation settles in, some T-Mobile employees recently took to the social media platform Reddit to reveal that they were suddenly fired from the company.
In a Reddit post on Dec. 9, a Reddit user raised the alarm about being notified of job cuts affecting T-Mobile employees who were account executives and sales executives at the company.
“I received numerous texts this morning from my friends who are still employed at T-Mobile,” the Redditor wrote in the post. “Sales teams are shrinking significantly today nationally. Account executives and sales executives are mostly the ones who are on their toes. There are also rumors that T-Mobile will introduce ‘Consumer Account Directives’ in retail stores (possibly experience stores?) for companies with fewer than 25 employees. Businesses with multiple employees will still have an executive account.
Related: T-Mobile plans to start charging customers for a free offer
In the comments section below the post, several Reddit users claiming to be T-Mobile employees confirmed that the company fired them.
“I’m a solutions engineer. Just got on a call with my manager about 10 minutes ago. I’ve been laid off. Still trying to process,” wrote a laid-off T-Mobile employee.
“AE (account executive) here and has also been let go unfortunately. Sending positivity to all who are affected by all these company layoffs,” wrote another.
One Reddit user even claimed that the interview for a position at T-Mobile was canceled due to a “hiring freeze.”
“I was supposed to start a virtual reality position last Monday, but I got a call saying they were doing a ‘hiring freeze.’ They told me it will be postponed until January. However, with all the talk, I’m skeptical,” the redditor wrote.
The move from T-Mobile follows Verizon’s decision to lay off more than 13,000 employees in November, citing the need to “streamline” operations after losing 7,000 postpaid customers during the third quarter of 2025.
“It is important that we direct our energy and resources to put Verizon on a path to success,” Verizon CEO Dan Schulman wrote in a memo to employees last month. “The actions we are taking are designed to make us faster and more focused, positioning our company to deliver to our customers as we continue to capture new growth opportunities.”
More Telecom news:
Layoffs in the tech industry have been on the rise this year as companies nationwide cut costs amid economic uncertainty. So far this year, 257 tech companies have made layoffs, resulting in more than 122,000 tech workers losing their jobs, according to recent data from Layoffs.fyi.
In November alone, U.S. job cuts across all industries skyrocketed, pushing layoffs for 2025 to exceed 1.1 million, according to recent data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The telecommunications industry made the most layoffs compared to other sectors.
American employers have announced 71,321 job cuts in November, up 24% from 57,727 announced in the same month in 2024.
November’s total job cuts are the highest for the month from 2022, when 76,835 job cuts were announced.
The telecommunications industry had the most job cuts in November than any other industry, announcing 15,139primarily thanks to Verizon. This is the highest monthly total since April 2020, when 16,552 layoffs were announced in the sector.
So far this year, the telecommunications industry has announced 38,035 layoffsa 268% increase over the 10,331 announced in the same period last year. Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas
“Layoff plans fell last month, certainly a positive sign,” Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in the report. “That said, November job cuts have risen above 70,000 only twice since 2008: in 2022 and in 2008.”
Related: AT&T is making a tough change that customers will see on their bills
This story was originally published by TheStreet on December 12, 2025, where it first appeared in the Retail section. Add TheStreet as a favorite source by clicking here.
