This year has been rife with rumors about Sievert’s departure, and T-Mobile‘s presentation at the Bank of America 2025 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference suggests his days at the helm are done.
In March, a report said that T-Mobile‘s owner, Deutsche Telekom, wanted to reassert control, necessitating Sievert’s ouster. This was backed by a June report that said the company was pursuing a convergence strategy. Chief Operating Officer Srini Gopalan, who is expected to succeed Sievert, was allegedly better suited for this new direction.
T-Mobile added fuel to those reports last month by announcing two of its execs were leaving and that a succession was being developed.
Sievert is usually present at all important events, but he didn’t attend the Bank of America 2025 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference. On top of that, when asked about Mike’s rumored departure, Executive VP & CFO Peter Osvaldik didn’t give a straight answer.
Mike has said very transparently, look, a company — a great successful company has to have great, thoughtful long-term succession plans. And Mike said, Srini is definitely the succession plan for someone, right?
–Peter Osvaldik, Executive VP & CFO at T-Mobile, September 2025
Osvaldik went on to wax poetic about Gopalan, talking about his deep industry expertise and long T-Mobile experience. He also pointed out that Gopalan and Sievert have been jointly leading the company, implying the recent successes are jointly owed to Sievert and Gopalan.
So, even though T-Mobile still hasn’t named Gopalan as the successor, they have made it quite clear that he is the heir apparent.
Sievert has been CEO since 2020, and his contract is valid until 2028. That’s why this doesn’t look like your usual succession planning. Instead, Sievert is being let go ahead of time.
Sievert played an instrumental role during the 5G buildout, but with the company branching out into fiber and other areas and wanting to distance itself from the Uncarrier ethos, perhaps the current CEO doesn’t feel at home at the company any longer.
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