T-Mobile is tired of being #4. Their parent company, Deutsche Telecom, is also tired of T-Mo being #4, which is why they've levied some "motivational threats" on the company in the last few months. The very future of T-Mobile as a carrier lies on them finding some way to turn things around, boost sales up, and keep them there.

Enter T-Mobile Project Black. A new roll-out so secret no one has even the faintest idea what it is. According to T-Mo News and PhoneArena Project Black is neither a phone release or a promotion plan. Whatever it is, it's big enough that T-Mo thinks it could rocket them up out of 4th place.

They're (apparently) so paranoid about any news of this plan leaking out that they've required their employees to sign non-disclosure agreements. Project Black is expected to launch on Sunday, October 25th. All field supporting positions are being required to work that day, and the only reason they'd need full staff on a Sunday is a major roll-out.

So...what is Project Black? If you'll allow me to put on my speculation hat, I think it could be a 4G network. I realize that sounds out there, but it's the only thing I can imagine T-Mobile announcing that would be big enough to boost them out of 4th place. If T-Mobile has managed to secretly get themselves ready for WiMax, that would be something big enough to justify all of this hype.

That said, I don't think T-Mo is really going to unveil a hidden 4G network. It's just that nothing else they could do seems grand and exciting enough to save them in one fell swoop. If you have any better ideas, leave them in the comments.