In a move that indicates T-Mobile plans to grow its enterprise business unit, T-Mobile is offering a new promotion that will let any business try its network for free for up to 30 days. In addition, T-Mobile will offer business customers a Samsung A51 5G phone for free and pay off up to $650 from a previous provider.
The Test Drive promotion is for businesses of all sizes, which T-Mobile quantifies as “for the hundreds of thousands of businesses all over the country struggling to stay afloat.”
The offer comes at a time when connectivity is more important than ever because the Covid-19 crisis has driven so much business online and over the phone. Even before the pandemic, according to 2019 research data from IDC, 60.4% of businesses said network coverage and reliability were the most important factors in choosing a wireless provider.
Wave7 Research analyst Jeff Moore said T-Mobile has reported some remarkable growth statistics for several years, and it needs to keep that momentum. “It’s looking for growth adjacencies in a variety of places,” said Moore. “It only makes sense they would take a very strong look at business penetration where traditionally they’ve been very under-penetrated.”
Moore also said he’s heard that “Sprint business people have survived at a much higher rate than other people at Sprint” since the merger. “Sprint brings enterprises capabilities that T-Mobile didn’t have before," he said. "Sprint had backup contracts with the vast majority of the Fortune 500. So I think that explains the initiative we’re seeing.”
During the company’s second quarter earnings announcement last week, T-Mobile said it has surpassed AT&T and is now America’s No. 2 wireless provider, crediting T-Mobile for Business for most of the company’s postpaid over-performance in the quarter.
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The earnings report was the first quarter for the combined T-Mobile and Sprint. The new T-Mobile reported net customer additions of 1,245,000, for a total customer count of 98.3 million.
T-Mobile is also launching a major ad campaign - running across TV, web and digital - to go along with the Test Drive promotion. Moore said, “The fact that they’re putting TV ad dollars behind it proves it’s a major push.”
For the Test Drive trial, businesses with up to 12 lines will be provided a hotspot to trial T-Mobile’s LTE network for up to 30 days or 30GB whichever comes first. For accounts with 13 or more lines, a T-Mobile for Business expert will connect the business with a program to meet its needs.