Lumen, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile Tackle Channel Conflict (2025)

CHANNEL PARTNERS CONFERENCE & EXPO - Channel leaders at some of the major wireless and wireline providers are working to educate their peers on the direct sales side as their companies shift more business to indirect sales.

Channel integration was on the minds of channel leaders at AT&T, Lumen Technologies, T-Mobile and Verizon in a keynote panel at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo. These carriers and many of their peers have publicized an increased shift of business to the channel, which includes technology advisors (TAs), system integrators (SIs), hyperscalers, managed service providers (MSPs) and value-added resellers (VARs). Cooperation with direct sales will be an important component of that shift.

Channel Revenue Increase

These companies have gone on the record about their intended increase in channel revenue. Lumen, for example, intends for 70% of its business to run through partners over the next 5-10 years.

George Fischer, who leads sales for T-Mobile for Business, said earlier this week that the uncarrier is shooting for a 50% channel revenue increase in 2025. Paul Spencer, who leads partner sales at T-Mobile for Business, said that makes for a bigger quota for the channel team. But it reflects real momentum, Spencer said.

Related:T-Mobile Business Sales Leader Eyes 50% Channel Growth

"Over the last three or four years, this room has become a really sizeable piece of T-Mobile's business. So we're at this tipping point, if you will. We continue to push chips in, and we continue to get return on investment with the chips," Spencer said.

Rich Carrera, area vice president of partner solutions in the West for AT&T, defined AT&T's channel growth goals in terms of delivering wireless and wireline solutions together.

"We want to capture every customer as a converged customer, and so the growth is selling both. You can't put a percentage on that. It's just saying every customer should have both fiber and mobile," Carrera said.

Mark Tina, vice president of indirect partner sales for Verizon, said indirect distribution previously accounted for a single-digit percentage of Verizon's business. Now it is "healthy into the double-digits."

"We're looking to continue north of there, but we're looking to do it the right way, and that's the key," Tina said. "We're not looking to shift left pocket to right pocket. We're looking to open up new distribution, whether it be geographic, whether it be in product."

Channel Integration

The term "channel conflict" most broadly speaking refers to when the channel partner and a direct seller of the same vendor compete for the same customer. It's particularly common in the advisor/agent channel, where the vendor bills the end user and commissions the partner. It's common for partners to report that the direct sales team of the vendor they previously sourced trying to disintermediate them at renewal time.

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Leaders on stage acknowledged the historical challenges that have surfaced between partners and sellers. It was something Spencer said was more present at T-Mobile three to four years ago. Spencer said the maturation of T-Mobile's channel helped resolve some of those issues. But at the end of the day, "it comes down to relationships and trust."

"Because when stuff goes sideways, and inevitably it does, I think if it's all about the relationship and trust you have with partners to say, 'Hey, this didn't work out the way we all planned it to. But what are we going to do to make it right for you as the partners that are out there, and how do we prevent this in the future?'" Spencer said.

Mark Tina, who had led business sales for Verizon before coming over to the channel and has worked in direct sales "for decades."

"Jumping over to the indirect side a couple of years ago with our channel partners has really been transformational for me as well as for our organization here at Verizon," Tina said. "I'm going to come right at this head-on; if there's no conflict, then someone's not hustling, and I'm serious about that."

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The solution to channel conflict, Tina said, is to center in on what the best solution is for the customer and the best way to provide that solution. And finally, which party owns the relationship with the customer?

"People buy from people. And if that customer wants to do business with a channel partner aside from Verizon, with Verizon or partially with Verizon, we've got all sorts of different programs out there, and in the end, it's to really bring that customer the best solution," Tina said.

Educating Sellers on the Channel

The channel leaders said they see an opportunity to help direct sellers shed old stereotypes of channel partners. Spencer noted that sometimes direct sellers don't want to recognize partners for their contributions to a deal. Some sellers hold a stigma that "all of you guys drive Ferraris and have yachts," and don't actually need to be recognized.

Spencer said he's working to sit sellers and partners down together. He's encouraging sellers to ask partners about how they got their start.

"Ask them to tell you about their first 12 months, 24 months, 36 months in the business. Ask them to tell you about the anxiety that they had and how stressful it was. What was that like? Emotionally, once that conversation happens, it's a completely different scenario, and I've seen it happen over and over," Spencer said.

Tim Acker, who joined Lumen earlier this year and now serves as vice president of channel sales, said the partner community has evolved, making more of those stigmas more and more irrelevant.

"We went from agents to advisors, and that is a big shift in the minds and the hearts of our sellers, because they're not just there when they're getting paid," Acker said. "They're doing things we can't do. They're getting us into corners that we can't get: the CISO, the CTO, the CIO. And typically, we're not having that level of dialogue activity today."