On Thursday, T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert made a special speech at the luncheon held by the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. Silvert joined T-Mobile in Bellevue, Washington, in 2012, and served as CEO after T-Mobile merged with Sprint in 2020. The following is a summary of his comments.
T-Mobile cooperates with SpaceX to expand wireless coverage through SpaceX’s Starlink satellite
Sievert said, “This is probably one of the biggest pain points we are trying to solve: the dead zone.” He announced his deal with Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, at the SpaceX Starbucks factory in southern Texas last month.
The partnership calls for the establishment of a new network consisting of Starlink satellites that can use T-Mobile’s IF spectrum nationwide. After the launch of a series of SpaceX satellites, Starlink’s broadband enhanced beta will not be available in specific regions until next year. The launch will start with SMS, including SMS, MMS and SMS applications. Voice and data coverage will be available later.
“We don’t know how fast it can be integrated. But our dream is that your existing smart phone, which you already have, will be able to connect to Starlink satellites running around the earth without new technology, and you will be able to send and receive real-time information, emergency information, picture information and real-time communication, not only through text, but also through popular information sending and receiving applications.” Sievert said Thursday. “If everything goes according to plan, we will have a full test by the end of next year.”
After receiving a live interview with Sievert, GeekWire contacted him and asked him about follow-up questions related to the SpaceX transaction, but he refused to answer.
Seattle area and commerce
Sievert is a member of “Challenge Seattle”, an alliance of top CEOs responsible for addressing regional issues, including homelessness and educational inequality. He said that legislators need to understand “the important role of business in creating a vibrant economy”
“Many policymakers are so obsessed with dividing the pie that they forget to need one,” he said. “The role of business is to ensure that there is pie. This means that we must invest, we must innovate, and we must achieve it here.”
T-Mobile launched a framework called “Equity in Action” last year to support its diversity, fairness and inclusiveness efforts. Sievert talked about how the company trains talents, calling it a “dual approach”
He said, “Although we are a large Seattle company, one thing I need to know in this room is that most of our employees live and work in the most popular counties in the most popular states.”. “Therefore, we need to formulate a strategy that conforms to our values, and also a strategy to successfully recruit tens of thousands of people from all over the country.”
The focus of the strategy is to ensure that the proportion of women and ethnic minorities in the company’s development and mentoring plan is too high. Each vacancy includes an interviewer pool representing diversity and candidates representing the company’s increased diversity.
The company’s focus is on recruiting “the best people for the job, without affirmative action or any information about their race or gender,” Sievert said.
“So it’s interesting,” he said. “According to the recruitment manager, we only hire the best people every time… We have too many representatives in the development plan, we insist on a diversified candidate pool, and we insist on a diversified interview, which enables us to do the last thing proudly.
“This is a good service for those who work in these positions, because they know that no one will question how they got the job. No one will doubt whether they got the job because of their identity, just because of their efficiency, performance, skills and experience.”