T-Mobile’s new CEO Srini Gopalan faces pressure to fend off rivals

T-Mobile (TMUS) is handing the CEO baton to Srini Gopalan, the company’s COO, as the carrier braces to fend off rivals in wireless and broadband.

Gopalan, who will succeed Mike Sievert on Nov. 1 after the CEO’s five-year run, said he is “honored and grateful” for the opportunity to build on Sievert’s legacy of “disrupting the industry” while pushing further into artificial intelligence and digital capabilities.

T-Mobile stock was little changed in Monday trading. Year to date, the stock is up over 7% and is up more than 19% in the last 12 months.

Sievert, also previously COO, took over the CEO role from the highly energetic T-Mobile frontman John Legere on May 1, 2020.

In the years since, he has led not only the successful integration of Sprint, which T-Mobile purchased for $23 billion in 2020, but also a reinvention of the business and a steady stream of better-than-expected quarters.

T-Mobile spent $1.35 billion to acquire Ryan Reynolds’s Mint Mobile in May 2024, giving the company access to more value-conscious phone plan shoppers.

The company has also closed deals for fiber-optic plays Metronet ($4.9 billion), US Cellular ($4.4 billion), and Lumos ($950 million).

It began its service with Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite business on July 23, helping to close dead zones for cell coverage in the country. Sievert had signed the partnership in 2022, positioning T-Mobile as the first major carrier to link directly to satellites.

Under Sievert’s watch, shares of T-Mobile climbed about 176% compared to a 28% gain for AT&T (T). Verizon (VZ) is down 23% during that same time span.

Sievert, who will stay on as a vice chairman, was reportedly exploring options to step away from his role as top executive back in June.

Gopalan, who has served as COO since 2023, brings global telecom experience to the CEO role. As COO, he has overseen the company’s wireless and broadband units. Before that, he ran Deutsche Telekom’s German operations, driving subscriber growth and network upgrades. He has also held senior roles at Vodafone (VOD) and Bharti Airtel.

The transition marks another generational handoff for the company and comes as the competitive landscape is shifting.

MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett wrote in a research note that a new wholesale deal with Comcast (CMCSA) and Charter (CHTR) could give cable operators an even stronger price edge in business wireless — a market where T-Mobile has been clawing share.

“Cable wins. And T-Mobile wins as well,” Moffett wrote, while raising questions about whether the tie-up could lead to deeper partnerships that would reshape the sector.