T-Mobile’s big PR blitz is backfiring in Washington

If you follow John Legere on social media, then you'll know that his company, T-Mobile, has been on an aggressive PR and lobbying blitz of late. The campaign is brash. It's populist. It's everything we've come to expect from the nation's fourth-largest cellular carrier. It's also not going over particularly well with the people who count.

Officials across Capitol Hill and the Federal Communications Commission say they've grown increasingly frustrated by Legere's attempt to sway them on one of the most significant issues facing the industry: A looming auction of broadcast airwaves that T-Mobile hopes can supercharge its networks and help it compete against AT&T and Verizon with lower prices and better service. And on June 25, agency officials dealt T-Mobile a blow when they said they don't plan to go along with the company's request for more favorable treatment in the auction. "T-Mobile's aggressive campaign isn't going over well in most commissioners' offices," said one senior official, who asked not to be named discussing a pending issue before the agency. "People also don't understand what they are thinking they will accomplish."