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T-Mobile to end smartphone subsidies next year

Published Dec 6th, 2012 3:58PM EST

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If you want to get an inexpensive smartphone from T-Mobile, you’d better do it fast. FierceWireless reports that T-Mobile will formally kill off its smartphone subsidies in 2013 and will replace them with a new system where customers “pay an upfront fee for their devices and then pay the balance of the device in affordable monthly installments.” According to FierceWireless, T-Mobile CEO John Legere told Deutsche Telekom’s annual investor conference on Thursday that “we think there is a huge room for a carrier to change in a way that the larger players will choose to or will not be able to respond to.” Legere said that T-Mobile wouldn’t be adversely affected by ending its device subsidies since the carrier would still offer customers “fair and simple pricing” with “low out-of-pocket expenses.”

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.