T-Mobile US Offers Customers Free Shares

John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile US
John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile US

Mobile network T-Mobile US is set to offer around 10m of its customers free shares in the company as the fast-growing firm attempts to draw in new subscribers to take on its rival operators Verizon and AT&T.

Pay-monthly customers who are subscribed to the network can get one share, currently worth $43.07 (£29.58), with the chance of earning up to 100 more by referring new customers to the operator. Customers who have been with the network for five or more years will earn two shares per recommendation until 2017.

The initiative was announced to T-Mobile US customers in a simulcast via the web and social media, with the firms exuberant president and CEO John Legere introducing a series of initiatives aimed at thanking T-Mobile customers, under the umbrella of #GetThanked.

“Get ready for a gratitude adjustment, America!” said Legere. “This Un-carrier move is all about giving you a good thanking! No strings. No gotchas. Just thank you for being a customer! At T-Mobile, we already wake up every day working for our customers – so Ive decided to make it official and turn T-Mobile customers into T-Mobile owners by offering them stock. And were thanking customers every week with cool stuff from brands people love.”

The network is launching a new app called T-Mobile Tuesdays which will offer customers prizes and giveaways on Tuesdays, having partnered with brands including Gilt, Dominos, Lyft, StubHub, Wendys, Fandango and Universal Pictures. T-Mobile customers will also be able to access a full free hour of Gogo wi-fi on their T-Mobile devices on approximately two-thirds of domestic US flights.

T-Mobile is currently the third largest network operator in the US, behind Verizon and AT&T. It added 2.2m customers to its services in Q1 2016, but still only boasts around half the number of subscribers of number two network AT&T.