BELLEVUE, Wash., Jan. 4 (UPI) -- AT&T's offer of $450 to customers who switch to AT&T from the U.S. carrier T-Mobile US is a "bribe," a top T-Mobile executive said.
It is widely expected that T-Mobile US at a trade show in Las Vegas next week will announce a plan to pay the termination costs of customers who switch to T-Mobile US. With that in mind, AT&T made a pre-emptive strike, the New York Times said Saturday, by offering up to $450 in credit to customers who switch from T-Mobile US to AT&T.
Receiving full credit depends on the value of phone trade-ins and deals customers sign up for, the Times said.
"I'm flattered that we have made them so uncomfortable! We used AT&T's cash to build a far superior network and added Un-carrier moves to take tons of their customers -- and now they want to bribe them back!" T-Mobile Chief Executive Officer John Legere said in a statement.
He said AT&T was making a "desperate move."
"Consumers won't be fooled ... nothing has changed, customers will still feel the same old pain that AT&T is famous for," Legere said.
