T-Mobile International AG announced that it would be eliminating fees for text messages and data in over 100 countries. The telecom company would also be simplifying its calling rates to a fixed USD0.20 per minute rate. The new international plan and call rate would be launched on October 31, and would be enjoyed by new and existing T-Mobile customers.
In an interview, T-Mobile chief executive John Legere said, "People are scared to death to use your phone around the world. We're taking a big stab and we're going to make the world your home network."
The change would be the third phase of Legere's Uncarrier 3.0, the company's strategy to be a small yet aggressive player againts big telecom players in the US like Verizon. CNET estimated that a customer would only spend USD6.40 a day on the new T-Mobile plan for using 72 megabytes of data, 32 one-minute calls to home and 36 text messages. A person in Canada or Europe with no international plan might incur up to USD1,500 a day for the same usage.
T-Mobile's revenue in the second quarter this year had increased 20% to USD6.3 billion. The company also had gained an additional 1.1 million customers, no doubt because of its acquisition of smaller rival MetroPCS.
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