Shored up money by (gasp) dishing out plans that benefitted the consumer. Branded this tactic as the UnCarrier. Invested in their towers. Now everybody from shareholders to users eat. ATT's failure merger was such a big boost money wise.
But this is the odd one out, as most execs gut the company and cash out at everyone's expense and don't do a phoenix rise. Probably has to do with the parent company Deutsche Telekom being German and not US-born. As a contrast, look at cancers like ATT and how they move.