T-Mobile offers Sprint customers $200 credit to switch
The latest promotion in T-Mobile's holiday blitz goes after its rival carrier head-on.
T-Mobile is offering Sprint customers a deal they might not be able to refuse for the holidays.
The US' third-largest carrier said Wednesday that it will offer any wireless customer switching to T-Mobile from Sprint or any of Sprint's prepaid brands, such as Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile, an additional $200 bill credit. The credit is in addition to the $650 T-Mobile will pay to cover early termination fees and additional payments for customers switching from its rivals. The new and limited-time offer doesn't require customers to turn in their old devices.
This latest promotion is part of a holiday blitz the Bellevue, Washington, company announced earlier this week. It's yet another indication that competition in the wireless market is heating up. For more than two-and-a-half years, T-Mobile has pressured competitors with its Uncarrier marketing campaign that has lowered prices and changed how carriers sell wireless service. In recent months, it's targeted Sprint, which was the third-largest US wireless carrier in the US until T-Mobile took that position earlier this year.
Last week, Sprint reintroduced a promotion to give new customers switching from a rival carrier a 50 percent discount relative to the competitor's current-rate plan. Sprint added T-Mobile to the list of carriers whose plans it would cut in half.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere took to social media to call Sprint's promotions a sign of desperation.
"I cannot think of any wireless customers in more desperate need of some holiday cheer than those Sprint customers still hanging on over there," said Legere, who's known for his colorful insults. "Those poor people have put up with the nation's slowest and smallest LTE network."
In addition to this offer, T-Mobile has announced a whole series of holiday promotions, including several Black Friday deals. For instance, from November 26 to November 29, it will offer $100 off several popular Samsung devices, including the Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge + and Note 5.
T-Mobile also announced earlier this week that it will provide current customers on its Simple Choice plans three free months of unlimited data access. The promotion begins December 1.