In a recent conversation with shareholders, T-Mobile COO Jim Alling said that he believes out of the four major cell phone carriers — AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and his own T-Mobile — one will fade away in the coming years.

We’re guessing he didn’t mean the company he works for, even though T-Mobile took a net loss of $7.78 billion last quarter. That number was affected by an $8.1 billion accounting charge related to the company’s proposed combination with MetroPCS.

The deal, announced last month, will create a combined company with more than 42 million subscribers, headquartered in Bellevue. However, MetroPCS shareholders have filed derivative lawsuits against T-Mobile USA, Deutsche Telekom and MetroPCS over the proposed merger.

You wouldn’t be reading this post had AT&T successfully acquired T-Mobile last year. But that didn’t happen, and now T-Mobile finds itself again fighting its way up the carrier mountain. Maybe T-Mobile’s ongoing campaigns that involves “semi-celebrity endorsers” — including pro surfer Jamie Sterling, DJ RJD2 and Seattle uber geek and video blogger Chris Pirillo — can give them a boost.

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