T-Mobile CEO Gopalan接受Bloomberg采访谈家庭互联网与AI增长战略，同时宣布CFO交接计划

As he nears his one-year anniversary as T-Mobile US Inc.’s chief executive officer, Srini Gopalan is counting on growth in businesses such as home internet and artificial intelligence to help buoy a languishing share price.

The No. 2 US wireless carrier has seen its stock tumble 25% since last September when Gopalan was tapped for the role, which he assumed from Mike Sievert on Nov. 1. Second-quarter results in July disappointed investors, showing lower revenue than expected and a 13% year-over-year drop in subscribers, a category T-Mobile has historically dominated. The shares of Verizon Communications Inc. are up 16% over the same time period while AT&T Inc. is down 10%.

Gopalan, though, has his eye fixed further down the road.

“How the market reacts to any one quarter, frankly, is down to so many different things. And I’m not going to manage this company to a day or a quarter stock price,” Gopalan, 56, said in an interview. “Obviously, creating shareholder value is central to the purpose of this company, but we take a much more thoughtful, long-term view of it.”

That outlook includes some leadership changes. Chief Financial Officer Peter Osvaldik will retire next year, the company announced Thursday. Jessica Uhl, a former CFO of Shell Plc., will join the company in mid-September and work alongside Osvaldik during a transition period until February 2027. Her experience makes her a good fit for T-Mobile as both companies have nationwide retail businesses as well as extensive and complex infrastructure portfolios, Gopalan said.

His vision includes putting T-Mobile’s network infrastructure to work for artificial intelligence. When AI moves beyond chatbots into physical applications such as automated factories and home delivery drones, “none of that is feasible without a wireless network connecting it,” he said. Gopalan sees such applications fitting nicely into T-Mobile’s ambitions to expand its portfolio of business connectivity offerings, which he said are increasingly wireless-centric.

T-Mobile is also working to increase its home internet business, which Gopalan noted ramped up from zero household customers to nearly 10 million in four years. He views the 60 million home internet customers held by cable companies as T-Mobile’s next hunting ground as it expands fiber offerings and fixed-wireless access, which relies on excess 5G capacity.

The Bellevue, Washington-based company has already been looking to sweeten the deal for existing wireless customers by adding perks and incentives, from revamping its popular loyalty program to additional phone financing options. It’s also venturing into advertising and financial services with initiatives like a co-branded credit card with Capital One Financial Corp.

Some of the offers have landed better than others. A partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink internet service offers customers access to satellite coverage that can fill gaps in T-Mobile’s ground-based network, especially in extremely remote areas. But most customers aren’t willing to pay $10 a month to add it on.

“We see, with time, this is not really going to be a differentiator,” Gopalan said. “This is something that customers will come to expect as part of a standard cellular service.”

Gopalan wouldn’t comment on reports about a potential merger with T-Mobile’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom AG. Elliott Investment Management has built a sizeable stake in Deutsche Telekom and indicated the German firm should ditch plans for a potential merger with its American arm, Bloomberg reported. Gopalan emphasized that T-Mobile’s CFO transition is independent of Deutsche Telekom’s own recent executive changes.