You might not have corporate clout or a boardroom seat, but your Reddit posts and tweets caused two powerful carriers to boot out their CEOs.
Despite their nonchalant attitude and dismissiveness about the headwinds facing them, T-Mobile and Verizon have both made changes that signal internal turmoil. Both companies have shown the door to their Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) ahead of time.T-Mobile‘s soon-to-be former CEO, Mike Sievert, and Verizon‘s ex-CEO, Hans Vestberg, were the architects of 5G rollouts in their respective companies.
Sievert was locked in until 2028, and it was only in March that rumors of his departure took hold. Vestberg’s ouster was even more abrupt, and no one saw it coming.
5G visionaries booted
T-Mobile and Verizon’s outgoing CEOs led the charge on 5G deployment.
Sievert’s handling of the 5G deployment helped T-Mobile shed its underdog title, rising to the same level — or, if you ask the company, perhaps ahead of — its rivals.This success eventually caught up to him, which is perhaps why his German overlords brought in Srini Gopalan. Gopalan was most recently the Chief Operating Officer at T-Mobile and is an industry veteran.Verizon‘s Vestberg, on the other hand, is the reason the company has lost its lustre, a fact that presumably hastened his retirement at the hands of the board.
The company didn’t even afford him the grace of a gradual transition, as it did when his predecessor, Lowell McAdam, passed the torch to him.
The carrier lost value and market share under Vestberg’s watch. During his tenure, the postpaid industry added 55 million customers, out of which Verizon captured only 5 million. When he became CEO, Verizon accounted for more than 20 percent of annual postpaid phone net adds. Over the last four years, that share has fallen to about 5 percent.
Verizon‘s 5G strategy was also flawed, which put it years behind T-Mobile. This disparity in performance, along with rising customer ire, screamed for a change.
Image makeover, carrier edition
While T-Mobile and Verizon may have let their CEOs go for different reasons, one thing is clear: they are desperate to take on a new identity.T-Mobile and Verizon have both been raising prices, driving new customers straight into the arms of cable. And while T-Mobile has been boasting about low churn, it has also been eager to communicate to customers that it doesn’t want to lose them.T-Mobile and Verizon customers have been vocal about their growing disdain for their carriers. For Verizon, this was reflected by the high churn rate.
T-Mobile likely got a little more leeway because it has been at the forefront of technology, whether it’s launching 5G Advanced or satellite service. Besides, it’s still cheaper than Verizon for many customers.
Still, its customers have made it known time and again that they wish former CEO John Legere were still around. Legere’s tenure is when the company introduced the forever price lock policy that Sievert so mercilessly dishonored and scrapped. The undoing of that commitment is a betrayal that sticks.
With new faces taking over, T-Mobile and Verizon are likely hoping to distance themselves from the unpopular moves made during the tenure of the outgoing CEOs.
When you get a new executive, you always get a breath of fresh air into the organization.
Roger Entner, Recon Analytics Founder, September 2025
T-Mobile and Verizon customers should take credit for these regime changes
Verizon is at a critical juncture. We have a clear opportunity to redefine our trajectory, by growing our market share across all segments of the market.
Dan Schulman, Verizon CEO, October 2025
T-Mobile‘s incoming CEO, Gopalan, has a reputation for extracting operational efficiencies, which seems to suggest that he will grow revenue by managing costs instead of raising rates.
With EchoStar bowing out as a facilities-based carrier, there were concerns that the Big Three would tighten their grips. Thanks to MVNOs and good old-fashioned online outrage that grip is slipping.
So go ahead, take a bow wireless warriors. You backed them into a corner.
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