T-Mobile US Inc. said Monday that it will be eliminating overage
penalties for all customers on its T-Mobile consumer plans and
pushed other major U.S. carriers to do the same.
T-Mobile, the fourth-largest U.S. carrier, has reversed a long
decline in its subscriber base by doing away with carrier standbys
like service contracts and international data fees.
The company noted in a statement Monday that more than 20
million U.S. consumers were hit with overage charges last year.
T-Mobile Chief Executive John Legere called on the company's
biggest competitors--AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and Sprint
Corp.--to stop the practice. He also launched a petition on
Change.org in a bid to wipe out these charges.
"Charging overage fees is a greedy, predatory practice that
needs to go," he said in a statement. Customers on its consumer
plans will no longer see overage fees starting in May for bills
arriving in June, he added.
T-Mobile's low-price unlimited data option, something Verizon
Wireless and AT&T Inc. don't offer, has been a key to competing
with the market's leaders.
The company, however, last month raised the price of its
unlimited wireless data plan by $10 to $80 a month on the back of
higher costs.
The company's stock is down 11% so far this year.
Write to Erin McCarthy at erin.mccarthy@wsj.com
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