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.”

This story was originally published August 21, 2014 at 11:03 AM with the headline "New T-Mobile campaign aims at Sprint customers."