Could Verizon’s new head of wireless give John Legere a run for his money on social media?
In classic Legere fashion, incoming Verizon EVP and Wireless group President Ronan Dunne on Wednesday traded barbs on Twitter with one of his new employer’s U.S. wireless rivals, Sprint.
The exchange began with a shot from Sprint, which claimed “all networks are great” and criticized Verizon for charging disproportionally high rates. Dunne replied with the quip that “all networks are great some of the time” but “only some networks are great all of the time.”
While Verizon has hitherto generally stayed above the fray when it comes to social media battles, it makes sense for the company to take on a more active personality in the era of wireless CEOs like T-Mobile’s Legere and Sprint’s Marcelo Claure.
Though Legere and Claure have gotten into their fair share of scuffles between themselves, Legere’s social media presence is much more prolific. On Twitter, Legere serves as almost a mascot for T-Mobile, frequently poking fun at and prodding wireless rivals before his audience of 2.85 million followers.
Dunne, who is an active Twitter user, could be the perfect candidate to act as Verizon’s counterbalance to Legere. And in an increasingly competitive market, Verizon could use another voice on its side.
In the second quarter, T-Mobile absolutely trounced the competition in terms of postpaid net additions with 646,000 to Verizon’s 86,000. T-Mobile also posted the highest upgrade rate of the four major U.S. carriers and was also hot on Verizon’s heels in terms of total number of devices sold, with 8.9 million to Verizon’s 10.5 million. And that despite T-Mobile spending just half of Verizon’s $2.8 billion in capital expenditures during the quarter.
The question is, will he or won’t he?
Dunne doesn’t assume his role at Verizon until September, but his proactive comments toward Sprint look promising.
