T-Mobile had a great third quarter, with revenue growing 4.7 percent to $20.16 billion and more subscribers joining compared to arch rivals AT&T and Verizon. That doesn’t mean employees don’t have the threat of layoffs looming over their heads.
According to one insider, T-Mobile may let some SMRA employees go in the first quarter of 2025.
T-Mobile intensified its rural penetration in 2021, hiring employees and setting up kiosks in small towns and rural communities to sell devices. When asked about the SMRA journey recently, T-Mobile execs said that Q3 was the company’s best quarter in terms of winning market share in rural areas.
An ad posted on X by a T-Mobile employee to hire in a SMRA location. | Image Credit – Tim Pinfield-Wells, X
However, growth levels may not be meeting expectations, which is seemingly why the company is planning on shutting down some SMRA stores and laying off employees who work in them.
The company also needs funds to fuel its acquisition spree, which is another reason why it doesn’t want to keep stores with low traffic. Apparently, the company found itself with redundant stores after the Sprint merger, and it doesn’t make business sense for it to keep slow locations operational.
Regardless, if the rumor is authentic, it’s going to be a huge blow to the workers who will be made redundant. At this point, it’s just a rumor though, and it could end up being a false scare, like an August leak that said the company was reorganising and the exercise would lead to some eliminations. Luckily for employees, that didn’t come to pass.
The company bragged about driving “new highs” in the switching activity and reaching more households in SMRA markets in Q3, so it will be interesting to see how it justifies the layoffs if the leak materializes.
