T-Mobile CEO crashes AT&T CES party, gets bounced

T-Mobile's brash CEO John Legere is no shrinking violet. He has a reputation for speaking his mind (sometimes peppering his public speeches with salty language) and lately he and his company have been going full-bore against bigger rival AT&T. So it's perhaps little surprise that word's come that Legere crashed AT&T's CES party last night, and got bounced in the process, according to re/code.

AT&T had popular rap musician Macklemore headline their lavish private event Monday night at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas, and Legere - a self-described Macklemore fan - secured a pass. Legere made no attempt to conceal his identity - he was wearing a magenta T-shirt sporting the T-Mobile logo underneath his leather jacket. Soon after security guards appeared and escorted him from the premises, threatening to charge him with trespassing if he stayed.

You can knock Legere for a juvenile prank if you want, but AT&T look like idiots. They either didn't realize or didn't care that tossing him out of the party was not only going to make them look like jerks but also generate huge publicity for T-Mobile. Of course, Legere knows that his effort was good publicity - his Twitter feed is full of retweets from fans recounting his adventures last night. This is ahead of T-Mobile's full press conference at CES on Wednesday, where Legere has hinted that the company will unveil the next phase of their "Uncarrier" plan.

Lately T-Mobile and AT&T have been in the middle of two very public campaigns against each other - AT&T announced a program that rewards defecting T-Mobile customers with up to $450 if they switch service, while Legere himself called the move "desperate". Legere's counterpart at AT&T, Ralph de la Vega, says that his company has more reliable service - you can check the AT&T coverage map and compare it with T-Mobile's to judge for yourself.

On Monday T-Mobile and AT&T's larger rival Verizon - the nation's number one wireless provider - announced a massive spectrum licensing deal that will enable T-Mobile to improve coverage inside buildings and over greater areas in key markets throughout the US.

Source: re/code