No More ‘Dumb and Dumber’: T-Mobile Is Done Taunting Its Rivals

  • CEO Sievert drops agitator attitude as carrier takes No.2 spot
  • Strategy seeks to capitalize on front-runner advantage in 5G
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T-Mobile US Inc., the once boisterous and often obnoxious upstart of the wireless industry, is settling into a more subdued middle age. No longer trying to generate buzz by openly mocking its rivals, T-Mobile is instead showing up its peers in the stock market.

Under former CEO John Legere, T-Mobile positioned itself as a scrappy independent that branded competitors AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. as “dumb and dumber.” Often clad in black and magenta garb, Legere took on the persona of a snarling underdog, roasting his “evil”Bloomberg Terminal adversaries to his 6 million Twitter followers and treating customers to free taco Tuesdays in a bid for attention.