T-Mobile Begins Laying Off Managers, Closing Retail Stores

T-Mobile is eliminating district and regional territory positions affecting hundreds of stores across the country, a move that is intended to help curb costs at the wireless provider, The Desk has learned.

The positions primarily affect regional and district managers who oversee T-Mobile’s retail business, including its corporate-owned stores and authorized retailers, according to people familiar with the matter. It also affects regional and store managers at T-Mobile’s prepaid wireless brand, Metro by T-Mobile, the sources said.

Affected positions include market directors who help coordinate retail efforts at stores across a number of states, territory managers (TMs) and regional indirect sales managers (RISMs). TM and RISM employees are part of T-Mobile corporate, though some managers at T-Mobile authorized retailers — including those operated by Verge, Connectivity Source, Amtel and at kiosks at Walmart and Best Buy locations — are also affected by the layoffs.

One source familiar with the issue said the number of managers who receive pink slips was in the “low hundreds,” while another said all designated district managers (DDMs) who help liaison between T-Mobile corporate and Metro by T-Mobile prepaid wireless stores received notices that their positions were being eliminated.

The precise number of people affected by the layoffs was not known. A spokesperson for T-Mobile has not yet returned a request for comment and additional information.

In addition to the layoffs, T-Mobile has informed workers at a number of retail locations that their stores will close in the near future, according to several employees who received notices on Thursday. The closures impact all corporate-owned Metro by T-Mobile retail locations, as well as some T-Mobile stores. Affected employees will be offered the chance to move to another store in their area.

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The layoffs and store closures come several months after T-Mobile dismissed hundreds of engineers as part of a broader restructuring of its business.

The job losses come despite promises by the wireless carrier years ago that it would keep workers if federal regulators approved a multi-billion dollar merger with then-rival Sprint. The stipulation was one reason why regulators ultimately agreed to T-Mobile’s acquisition of Sprint, and the merger was consummated in 2019.

For much of the last decade, T-Mobile has gained favor with wireless customers as being the “anti-carrier,” wooing over subscribers with promises of low prices that are inclusive of taxes, fees and perks like complementary access to streaming services and on-board Wi-Fi on domestic flights.

Since the Sprint merger, T-Mobile has rankled customers and regulators alike: In California, government officials accused T-Mobile of walking back promises to support Sprint’s older wireless network as well as customers of Sprint’s prepaid service Boost Mobile (which was sold to Dish Network, a company aggrieved by some of T-Mobile’s business moves). Last year, T-Mobile quietly raised its activation fee and other support-related surcharges, while simultaneously running commercials teasing rival wireless networks for raising prices on their customers during the pandemic.

Disclosure: The author of this story owns a small amount of direct stock in T-Mobile as part of a robust financial portfolio. Read more about our disclosures, standards of practice and ethics here.

The post T-Mobile Begins Laying Off Managers, Closing Retail Stores was originally published by Matthew Key on The Desk.