Windows Phone Thoughts: T-Mobile Boss Calls for Radical Rethink. Gnarly. I Think.

"The boss of one of the world's largest network operators has called for a radical, far-reaching rethink of how the industry works. T-Mobile CEO René Obermann, speaking at the 3GSM World Congress, took aim at what many consider givens - churn of customers among operators, subsidies, confusing or inconsistent tariffs, complexity and low usage of advanced services. He argued that the mobile market is not yet mature. It may be that in some European markets there is over 100 per cent penetration - multiple devices carried by end users - and there are mobile-only homes. But he pointed out that his business, for one, is keeping on acquiring customers. In the US, T-Mobile is now bigger than it is in Germany, growing 32 per cent, which he said is "not surprising, because [that market] is less penetrated". However, he said that "the current subsidy model induces churn", which is not healthy. At the same time, "bill shock is not an option"."

Personally, I find it interesting that T-Mobile, while presumably growing 32% in the US market, still can't (or won't) roll out high speed data service. Oh, and I think they had some sort of problem with hackers recently, although maybe I imagined that. Also, I'm a bit confused about the last bit. Subsidies induce churn, but they can't charge more and shock customers. Eh? What exactly are the alternatives? Seems like it's one or the other to me - what do you think?