New T-Mobile campaign aims at Sprint customers

T-Mobile US Inc. is enlisting its own customers to recruit new users, taking special aim at Overland Park-based Sprint Corp. as price skirmishes heat up in the U.S. wireless market.

Starting next week, T-Mobile’s refer-a-friend campaign will reward its own subscribers and the friends recruited from other carriers with one year of unlimited data, the company said today in a statement. The wireless provider will also give its customers a $25 bonus to spend at T-Mobile for each referral, according to the company’s website.

The offer – introduced with a statement entitled “T- Mobile Urges Its Customers to Rescue Beleaguered Sprint Customers” – is aimed primarily at Sprint and also applies to customers recruited from Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc.

After Sprint abandoned a plan to merge with T-Mobile, Sprint’s new Chief Executive Officer Marcelo Claure this week introduced a new family service plan for new customers that offers double the shared data allotment of rivals, including T- Mobile.

“It continues to amaze me to see the old carriers failing to listen to their customers, or reward them for their loyalty,” T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in the announcement. “That arrogance and indifference has defined the U.S. wireless industry for too long. We’re changing that.”