T-Mobile Cuts Home Internet Price by 17 Percent to Dislodge Cable

T-Mobile is cutting the price of its new 5G wireless home broadband service by 17 percent, stepping up efforts to steal internet customers from cable and phone companies. The new price is $50 a month, a decrease of $10, T-Mobile said October 5. The six-month-old service is available to more than 30 million homes, but that’s just a fraction of the US total. Price cuts this early in the rollout of new 5G wireless services highlight the challenges of dislodging well-established phone and cable companies. In September 2021, top wireless provider Verizon offered a $200 credit to new customers for its $70 a month 5G home internet service. “The rapid price slashing for home broadband speaks to the needs for carriers to show Wall Street growth in broadband services,” said Maribel Lopez, from Lopez Research. Landline broadband is a prime target for competitors like 5G mobile carriers, as well as low-orbiting satellite companies including SpaceX’s Starlink and OneWeb. Shares of wireless carriers have declined this year amid stiff competition for new customers, including giveaways of the new iPhone from Apple Inc. 5G, with its lightning-fast connections, seeks to disrupt the cable and phone industries by beaming internet service into data-hungry homes without the added costs of wiring and trenching. About 106 million US subscribers currently get broadband from cable and phone companies at an average cost of $65 a month.