This week, Mike Sievart, the Chief Executive Officer of T-Mobile US Inc., has scolded AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. for these two companies’ recent tariff hikes. It bought to focus that his own company had raised fees on the bills of millions of wireless customers early this year.
More on the increased charges
As per Bloomberg News, in an investor conference on May 23, Sievart said that both Verizon and AT&T announced significant increases in fees last month amidst the high inflation leading to millions of customers facing anxiety on jacked-up prices.
The past decade saw T-Mobile growing faster than competitors by discarding service contracts, hidden fees, and costly international rates. However, in February, it announced that the company was increasing specific monthly fees by 24 cents per data device and 31 cents per line. Only those customers on Magenta unlimited upper-tier plans, One and One plus packages have fees and taxes included aware spared the hike.
T-Mobile clarifies that a majority of the customers were not affected, and subscribers were informed in advance in January that fees would be increased. The company has passed the costs and other charges imposed on them by other providers, but they are still lower than the ones hiked by competitors. Still, many customers did not like this move.
Wireless carriers are under pressure to sustain profitability with rising costs and stalled revenue growth. Verizon is increasing fees by $1.35 a line and business customers $2.20 more each month for mobile services from June. AT&T has raised existing services by $6 per month for single lines and $12 for family plans from May.
T-Mobile had committed to a rate plan freeze for three years due to its acquisition of Sprint Corp. T-Mobile said it was still honoring its commitment but added that some fee hikes were beyond control. Telecom Recovery Fees are reviewed periodically and adjusted to offset the increased cost to T-Mobil over time. According to an email from the company’s representative, some costs are not within the company’s control.
