T-Mobile Corporate Responsibility Report: Top 5 Highlights
T-Mobile published a Corporate Responsibility Report for 2021 – a 92 page set of data and slides so dense that it also released a summary PDF in addition to the CEO’s Letter, which is also a summary. I got an advanced copy of the report and here are the top five things that jumped out at me:
Project 10Million is Real
T-Mobile announced Project 10Million as part of a charm offensive to help close the Sprint deal, along with price locks and prepaid concessions. Two years later, T-Mobile genuinely is providing free or heavily subsidized connectivity to under-connected households with school-aged children – 3.2 million students so far.
T-Mobile is Taking the Environment Seriously
On the environmental front, T-Mobile has big, splashy announcements – it now sources all of its electricity from renewable energy – backed up with ongoing, substantive improvements. The headline message of all renewal electricity involves lots of fine print; without purchasing offsets and “unbundled REC purchases” it’s not actually possible today to use only renewable resources when you’re a large company that uses the grid in every state in the country. However, T-Mobile is genuinely committed not just to renewable energy, but using less of it. The move to 5G and new networking technology uses 14% less energy to move bits, no matter where that electricity is coming from. The goal is to reduce energy consumption per petabyte of traffic by 95% from 2019 to 2030, and T-Mobile is just 15.2% done so far. This is impressive, and more concrete than power sourcing or emissions management.
5G is/isn’t a Buzzword
Carriers are still pitching VR as a key 5G application, even when the only part of the experience that’s wireless is the broadband access. That said, T-Mobile does have some nice VR initiatives it can highlight, such as bringing veterans memorials to older vets in VR.
However, sometimes 5G really does offer breakthrough new applications due to coverage, speed, or network utilization. T-Mobile’s 5G Open Innovation Lab and Innov.ag are testing 5G soil sensors that help farmers optimize their irrigation systems. Agriculture is a great showcase for 5G.
Diversity
Companies love talking about diversity and inclusion and T-Mobile is no exception, but T-Mobile’s executive team and Board or Directors are actually fairly diverse, including key business positions, not just Human Resources and Communications. Overall, T-Mobile set out to hit 54 DE&I goals, and it’s halfway there. Some of these goals are fairly low hanging fruit (making suppliers sign pledges), but T-Mobile is being honest about its progress here, and it is working to ensure that diverse employees are not just hired, but put in position to be promoted as well.
Scammmers Make Telecom Hard
Scam calling is every bit as bad as you think it is. Carriers are trying: in under two years, T-Mobile Scam Shield identified or blocked over 21 billion scam calls (700 intercepted calls per second).
The report also has sections on T-Mobile’s progress hiring veterans, improved employee benefits, backing up DE&I goals with actual hiring and promotion data, data security, corporate charity, and more. I would have liked to see more details on data security given the company’s past problems, but for everything else, there are pages of footnote data.
To discuss the implications of this report on your business, product, or investment strategies, contact Avi at avi@techsponential.com or +1 (201) 677-8284.