Summary
In January 2018, T-Mobile acquired Iowa Wireless Services (iWireless), a regional wireless carrier that served approximately 75,000 customers in Iowa, western Illinois, and eastern Nebraska. Prior to the acquisition, iWireless had one of the largest retail footprints of any wireless carrier in Iowa, with 129 corporate and authorized dealer locations. Following the acquisition, T-Mobile retired the iWireless brand and discontinued the iWireless network. T-Mobile also closed iWireless’ two customer service call centers and 86 percent of iWireless’ retail locations.1
T-Mobile and Sprint claim that their proposed merger will benefit rural communities and argue that this is a key reason for regulators to approve the deal. However, CWA conducted an in-depth analysis of the iWireless acquisition, including interviews with people who experienced its effects directly. CWA’s analysis revealed that T-Mobile’s acquisition of iWireless was particularly detrimental to the following groups:
Rural customers:2
- iWireless’ rural retail locations provided convenient access to sales and basic technical supportto customers who now have to drive more than an hour to the nearest T-Mobile store, on aver- age.
- iWireless operated approximately 38 percent of all wireless stores in Iowa’s FCC Rural ServiceAreas (RSAs) and 67 percent of stores in places with a population of fewer than 2,500
- Asof January 2019, T-Mobile has yet to open a single T-Mobile-branded store outside of Iowa’s urban
- There are an estimated 550,000 Iowans living in RSA counties that were previously served by atleast one iWireless location and now have zero T-Mobile or Metro
Prepaid customers:3
- iWireless’ prepaid plans were more flexible than those offered by other prepaid carriers because they allowed customers to purchase plans at less than 30-day In contrast, Metro by T-Mobile only offers 30-day prepaid plans.
- As part of the transition from iWireless, T-Mobile prioritized the retention of postpaid over prepaid Most iWireless dealers interviewed by CWA reported that prepaid customers made up a majority of their businesses.
Small business owners:4
- T-Mobile closed 90 percent of all iWireless locations operated by authorized
- Some of the authorized dealers contacted by CWA reported that they had just a few days’ notice before they had to cease sales and surrender their iWireless inventory and that they continued to assist customers who had difficulty transitioning to T-Mobile but received no
- Most of the iWireless authorized dealers contacted by CWA reported that they would have wanted to remain as a T-Mobile or Metro authorized dealer after the transaction, but T-Mobile did not give them the opportunity to do
Postpaid customers:5
- iWireless’ least expensive unlimited plan for a single line was approximately 23 percent less expensive than T-Mobile’s ONE Unlike T-Mobile, iWireless’ unlimited plans did not throttle high-speed data or limit video streaming quality.
Difference between iWireless’ retail footprint before T-Mobile’s acquisition, and T-Mobile’s retail footprint as of January 2019.
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- See Executive Summary in “Disrupting Rural Wireless: How a T-Mobile Takeover Harmed Consumers and Small Business in Iowa” Pg. 1.
- See Rural Customers section in “Disrupting Rural Wireless: How a T-Mobile Takeover Harmed Consumers and Small Business in Iowa” Pg. 5 to 7.
- See Prepaid Customers section in “Disrupting Rural Wireless: How a T-Mobile Takeover Harmed Consumers and Small Business in Iowa” Pg. 7 to 9.
- See Small Business Owners section in “Disrupting Rural Wireless: How a T-Mobile Takeover Harmed Consumers and Small Business in Iowa” Pg. 9 to 11.
- See Postpaid Customers section in “Disrupting Rural Wireless: How a T-Mobile Takeover Harmed Consumers and Small Business in Iowa” Pg. 11 to 12.