The case of who’s copying who just got a little more complicated.
In a move sure to set T-Mobile CEO John Legere’s head spinning, Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure on Thursday told Fortune the carrier is aiming to make its new $60 unlimited plan its sole offering.
“Our idea is one plan and to eliminate everything else,” Claure told Fortune.
Claure’s comment comes on the heels of competing unlimited plan launches from both Sprint and T-Mobile on Thursday.
Priced at $60 and $70 per month, respectively, both plans include unlimited talk, text and 4G LTE data, as well as optimized 480p video streaming.
The eerie similarities between the two plans last week sparked a Twitter battle between Claure and Legere, with each accusing the other of copying their idea.
As reported previously, Sprint has been testing its unlimited idea since at least last month. However, Legere on Thursday’s announcement call contended T-Mobile has been progressively pushing toward an unlimited only option for around two years, pointing to T-Mobile’s Music Freedom and Binge On programs as proof things were always headed in that direction.
Claure’s proposed tweak, however, would eliminate the one major difference between the two plans: the fact that T-Mobile was planning to offer unlimited as its sole price plan while Sprint and the other carriers retained their other data tiers.
T-Mobile said its unlimited T-Mobile ONE plan will be the only plan option available to new customers starting on September 6.
Claure said he believes the unlimited plan will quickly become the most popular option among the carrier’s customers, but said the transition to a single plan will come more “gradually” for Sprint.
While Claure didn’t offer any details about the timeline, it’s possible the change could coincide with the upcoming U.S. presidential election. That would mean Sprint and T-Mobile’s plan offerings would line up just in time for a potential shift in the U.S. regulatory environment.
That last bit is key since a favorable shift of opinion at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) could open the door for another attempt at a T-Mobile-Sprint merger.
The idea of combining the two carriers was first floated in 2014, but was killed when the FCC and DOJ signaled they would oppose such a deal. Bloomberg last week reported Masayoshi Son, CEO of Sprint parent company SoftBank, has held on to hope of a merger and is eyeing the upcoming election with interest.
Claure on Thursday confirmed to Fortune Sprint is “interested” in a deal to help give the company scale, but said the companies are not currently engaged in “any serious discussions.”
Filed Under: Carriers
