Carly, the cute T-Mobile girl, got a reboot last week and went from sweetsey adorable innocent to total badass on a motorcycle. T-Mobile attests this to the fact that they are in the middle of a complete company re-brand that started in the early fall of last year. Scott Tollet, Vice President and General Manager for T-Mobile’s Southern Texas Region, had this to say about T-Mobile’s plan for changes and re-branding, “In January (2011) we decentralized the US and created 22 regions across the United States as their own business unit for all supporting functions to report to one Vice President and General Manager.”  According to Tollet, this will allow for each region to have their own operations team, marketing team, finance team and network and make it easier for the company to re-brand slowly.

After the nation is structured in separate regions, the fun begins, “We are re-branding a significant amount of stores nationally. We are going in and we are changing the way they look entirely but not just the pictures. [It's] a different look and feel all for the customers.” Tollet states.

Tollet added, “We’ve started marketing more aggressively in our regions… We are competing everyday. We make a living based on what we do today. Things change drastically. Am I supportive of it? Yes.”  Tollet says that one of things that T-Mobile does to stay competitive during their re-branding is to offer their customers options. He understands that some people don’t like to feel “tied down” and he feels as though T-Mobile’s prices are reasonable compared to other carriers.

But the news does not end there. Yesterday, in a press release, T-Mobile announced their plan to broaden their 4G coverage and and begin their plans to transition to the new LTE spectrum. T-Mobile’s chief technology officer Neville Ray had this to say, “Today, we operate America’s Largest 4G Network delivering a fast and reliable 4G data experience with HSPA+. Launching LTE next year lets us take advantage of technology infrastructure advancements and benefit from a more mature LTE device ecosystem while continuing to meet the growing demand for data with a powerful 4G experience.”

And this is where Carly’s Alter Ego comes in. The new ad features Carly tossing out her magenta dress for a more radical set of clothing, including a biker jack and boots. The words “No More Mr. Nice Girl” appear on the screen and T-Mobile announces, “It’s Time to Set the Record Straight” and “Test Drive America’s Largest 4G Network”.

But will the new Carly, or the new T-Mobile, be good enough to compete with the Big Three- Verizon, AT&T and Sprint? I guess we have to wait and see.

Tell us what you think in the comments below about T-Mobile’s re-branding efforts. Do you like the new Carly or should she have stayed sweet and cute?