T-Mobile CFO Says Merger Could Help Put Un-Carrier Approach "On Steroids"

T-Mobile is trying to walk a fine line as it touts the gains it is making as an independent company while still arguing that further consolidation would benefit consumers.

In an interview on Wednesday, T-Mobile Chief Financial Officer Braxton Carter and marketing chief Mike Sievert said that a potential combination with Sprint or another entity would allow the company to take its “un-carrier” approach to more consumers.

“We believe this is a scale industry,” Sievert said in a telephone interview, following the company’s earnings report earlier in the day. “It would allow a disruptive player to become even more disruptive.”

Carter said it would be kind of like putting the un-carrier “on steroids.”

Regulators in Washington, though, seem opposed to both steroids and a Sprint-T-Mobile deal, although Sprint and SoftBank have been making the rounds in D.C. trying to put forward their case for why it could be a good thing (the merger, not steroids).

In the meantime, Sievert said that the company’s financial results show that its initiatives so far are paying off.

“Obviously, this was just a record quarter by almost any measure,” Sievert said. “The business is firing on all cylinders.”

Investors responded positively, sending shares of T-Mobile up almost $2.00, or more than six percent, to $31.27.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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