- T-Mobile appears to have conducted layoffs affecting sales and other roles, but the company didn’t disclose how many jobs were cut or whether more are coming
- The layoffs coincide with T-Mobile’s push toward digital customer service and sales via the T-Life app
- T-Mobile’s moves follow massive Verizon layoffs tied to restructuring and AI adoption
It appears that T-Mobile quietly conducted a series of layoffs just before the holidays, but it’s unknown exactly how many people were fired – or even when the trend might end.
“Sales teams are being significantly reduced nationwide today. Mostly account executives and sales managers are the ones on the chopping blocks,” wrote one Reddit user in early December. “There are also rumors that T-Mobile will introduce ‘Consumer Account Executives’ in retail stores (possibly Experience Stores?) for businesses with fewer than 25 employees. Businesses with more employees will still have a (regular) account executive.”
While it looked like many of the cuts were in sales, another Reddit post claimed: “I’m a Solutions Engineer. Just got off a call with my manager about 10 minutes ago. I got laid off. Still trying to process.”
The layoffs were previously reported by Phone Arena and TheStreet. Fierce did not find any state WARN notices related to layoffs at T-Mobile in December, which could mean the layoffs were staggered and/or too small in number to require notifications.
Last week, another round of comments surfaced on Reddit about more layoffs to come in early January, and possibly more this week.
T-Mobile: We’re making some changes
T-Mobile declined to say how many people have been let go, but it acknowledged “some changes.”
Here’s the statement – and spoiler alert, it’s pretty short on details.
“Being the Un-carrier has always meant growing in ways that fuel broader products and services, deepen connections with our customers and enable us to respond even faster to a dynamic market. As the next step in our evolution, we’re making some changes while continuing to hire to ensure we have the right focus, structure and momentum to keep changing the industry through innovation and our long-standing focus on customers,” T-Mobile said.
T-Mobile makes no secret of the fact it wants to handle more customer service matters digitally, meaning it needs fewer employees answering the phones – which is exactly the opposite of how some customers want to be treated.
Nonetheless, they’re pushing T-Life hard, so much so that sales associates are telling customers to download the app as soon as they walk into the store.
During a UBS investor event in December, newly embedded CEO Srini Gopalan said the T-Life app has been downloaded more than 90 million times and that 70% of upgrades are now done through digital channels. T-Mobile ended Q3 2025 with a total of 139.9 million customers.
T-Mobile Consumer Group President Jon Freier has acknowledged that they expect to have fewer stores over time and a higher mix of stores that are company-owned and operated, with fewer calls coming into its customer care department.
Of course, AI is playing a role in all of this. Recall that during T-Mobile’s Capital Markets Day in 2024, T-Mobile announced a deal with OpenAI to launch IntentCX, an AI platform designed to solve customer pain points, possibly even before the customer knows there’s a problem.
T-Mobile follows Verizon layoffs
T-Mobile’s moves come as rival Verizon announced in November plans to lay off a whopping 13,000 employees across the organization. “Every part of the company will experience some level of change,” CEO Dan Schulman told employees.
Verizon’s layoffs came after the rather abrupt departure of former CEO Hans Vestberg and immediate installation of Schulman, 67, as CEO. Some analysts surmised at the time that Schulman was brought in to make the deep and difficult cuts before a longer-term CEO gets installed.
Verizon said it would establish a $20 million “Reskilling and Career Transition Fund” for employees departing the company. The operator noted that it’s the first company to set up a fund to specifically focus on the “opportunities and necessary skill sets as we enter the age of AI.”
As for T-Mobile, Gopalan will be updating everyone on its strategy when the company hosts a Capital Markets Day and reports Q4 and full 2025 earnings in New York City on February 11.