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AT&T launches all-out attack on T-Mobile in new ad

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 8:40PM EST
AT&T T-Mobile Attack Ad

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AT&T’s (T) bid to acquire No.4 wireless carrier T-Mobile USA failed spectacularly in late 2011 after the Justice Department sued to block the merger. There is clearly no love lost between AT&T and its former acquisition target, as the carrier on Thursday took out a full-page ad in several large newspapers slamming T-Mobile’s network. “The truth about T-Mobile’s network compared to AT&T,” the ad reads. “2x more dropped calls, 2x more failed calls, 50% slower download speeds.” The ad, pictured below, ran in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and in USA Today on Thursday.

“Wow. Looks like we struck a chord,” T-Mobile CMO Mike Sievert said in a statement to Bloomberg. “AT&T doth protest too much. Glad they’re spending their money to print our name.”

An AT&T spokesman told Bloomberg that the ad was printed in response to T-Mobile’s long-running campaign that highlights its 4G network speeds.

“T-Mobile’s advertising is a combination of misguided and just plain wrong,” AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said. “[The ad is] just a friendly reminder of the fact that independent third-party testing says AT&T’s network delivers faster speeds and fewer dropped calls than them.”

“Don’t be fooled by their misleading claims,” AT&T’s ad concludes. “For the better network experience, count on AT&T.”

The full ad follows below.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.