T-Mobile US laid off more than 4,500 employees in the first half of the year.
The detail was revealed by parent firm Deutsche Telekom (DT) in a report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which revealed a reduction of 4,671 positions at its US affiliate attributed to "the impact of the 2025-2026 workforce transformation."
That 'transformation' began in the last quarter of 2025, with DT implementing what it described as "a restructuring initiative to streamline operations by centralizing leaders and teams, reducing organizational layers, and eliminating duplicative roles."
The drive could have feasibly reduced overlap with the headcount subsumed through T-Mobile US' acquisition last year of rural wireless operator UScellular, as well as fiber providers U.S. Internet (USI), Lumos, and Metronet.
T-Mobile US' headcount with those deals stood at 70,036 employees at the end of 2025, dropping 6.7 percent to 65,365 by mid-2026. In its most recent report tracking the telecom workforce, MTN Consulting noted headcount growth usually comes from acquisition or consolidation, short-term network rollout needs, and expansion into new market areas as opposed to organic causes.
