T-Mobile has reduced its US workforce by roughly 4,700 roles, according to figures published by parent company Deutsche Telekom. The reduction coincides with the operator’s efforts to steer subscribers towards its self-service T-Life app, a shift that has drawn a lukewarm response from many customers.
The carrier has been pursuing what it terms workforce optimisation, and the latest numbers indicate that fewer staff are available to assist subscribers with their plans. As telecoms operators have trimmed headcounts, a growing number of subscribers have reported dissatisfaction with the level of support on offer.
The scale of the job cuts
The Deutsche Telekom Q2 2026 report shows that full-time employees in the United States fell from 70,036 at the end of 2025 to 65,365 by the end of June 2026, a difference of around 4,700 positions. That reduction is larger than the 4,411 roles cut in 2023, following an earlier round of 4,000 job losses in 2022.
Deutsche Telekom said the number of full-time employees in its US operations dropped by 6.7% between December 2025 and June 2026, largely as a result of its 2025-2026 Workforce Transformation programme. Taking into account smaller reductions in Germany and elsewhere, the group has eliminated 6,283 positions since the end of last year, lowering its global workforce by 3.2% to 191,796 employees.
The UScellular deal and industry trends
The latest round of reductions follows T-Mobile’s UScellular acquisition, worth around £3.4 billion, completed in August last year. The move brings the workforce roughly back to where it stood before the deal. UScellular employed approximately 4,100 people at the end of 2024 and initially informed regulators that it planned to lay off its entire workforce ahead of the transaction. The company later said that most employees would be rehired by T-Mobile.
T-Mobile is not alone in reducing staff numbers. Both AT&T and Verizon have also been cutting jobs, trimming a combined total of 4,000 roles recently. Between 2020 and 2025, the two operators reportedly eliminated more than 140,000 positions.
The 4,700 US roles removed by T-Mobile represent the largest single-period reduction reported by the carrier in recent years.
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Image: phonearena.com
