T-Mobile to Eliminate Overage Charges on Consumer Plans

T-Mobile US Inc. said Monday that it will be eliminating overage penalties for all customers on its T-Mobile consumer plans and pushed other major U.S. carriers to do the same.

T-Mobile, the fourth-largest U.S. carrier, has reversed a long decline in its subscriber base by doing away with carrier standbys like service contracts and international data fees.

The company noted in a statement Monday that more than 20 million U.S. consumers were hit with overage charges last year.

T-Mobile Chief Executive John Legere called on the company's biggest competitors--AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and Sprint Corp.--to stop the practice. He also launched a petition on Change.org in a bid to wipe out these charges.

"Charging overage fees is a greedy, predatory practice that needs to go," he said in a statement. Customers on its consumer plans will no longer see overage fees starting in May for bills arriving in June, he added.

T-Mobile's low-price unlimited data option, something Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc. don't offer, has been a key to competing with the market's leaders.

The company, however, last month raised the price of its unlimited wireless data plan by $10 to $80 a month on the back of higher costs.

The company's stock is down 11% so far this year.

Write to Erin McCarthy at [e-mail]

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires