Gopalan Takes Over as T-Mobile CEO Starting Nov. 1
Srini Gopalan, former CEO of Deutsche Telekom’s Germany business, will replace Mike Sievert as CEO of T-Mobile starting Nov. 1, the company announced Monday. Sievert will move to the new role of vice chairman. The move had been rumored for several months (see 2506100058), with Gopalan, who has served as COO since March 1, as the expected replacement.
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Sievert took over as CEO in April 2020, the same day that T-Mobile closed its purchase of Sprint, which gave the carrier the 2.5 GHz band spectrum it has used as its main midband to deploy 5G. He replaced John Legere, who had been CEO since 2012 and grown the carrier to compete as an equal with Verizon and AT&T.
Under Gopalan -- who formerly worked at Bharti Airtel, Capital One and Vodafone -- T-Mobile will become “the most data-driven, AI-enabled, digital-first company in the industry bringing exceptional experiences to Un-carrier customers and advancing the company’s leadership in 5G and next-generation mobile networks,” T-Mobile said.
New Street’s Philip Burnett said the move won’t change how investors view T-Mobile. “It sounds like they will emphasize that the immediate timing is related to a few large upcoming Un-Carrier moves that they want Srini to claim credit for,” Burnett said in a research note. “The company has gone to pains over the last few months to emphasize that Srini remains focused on being an industry disruptor rather than an incumbent, and we expect them to continue to push that narrative.”
Recon Analytics' Roger Entner said Gopalan’s record, based on his time running Deutsche Telekom in Germany, is “clear.” His focus is “driving financial efficiency,” Entner said in an email. “His appointment should be seen as a significant positive for the T-Mobile stock.”
Gopalan won’t “rock the boat” and will deliver “business as usual,” John Strand of Strand Consult told us. The U.S. subsidiary “is such a large share of DT's market cap that there is no room for experimentation.” Other analysts said they don’t comment on personnel moves.