Resurgent T-Mobile passes 50M subscribers, but CEO refuses to talk about Apple's 'iPhone 6'
U.S. carrier T-Mobile on Thursday posted strong results for its fiscal second quarter, adding 1.5 million subscribers, more customers than any other wireless provider, while recording a $391 million profit on revenues of $7.2 billion.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere
"We have completely reversed T-Mobile's trajectory and started a revolution that is changing the rules in wireless," T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in a release. The quarter marks T-Mobile's fifth consecutive period with over 1 million net subscriber additions.
In comparison, competitors AT&T and Verizon posted net additions of 1 million and 1.4 million subscribers, respectively, in their own fiscal second quarters. Sprint, rumored to be in merger talks with T-Mobile, lost 245,000.
Some 329,000 of T-Mobile's additions were mobile broadband customers driven by tablets, the company noted, a five-fold increase from the previous quarter. T-Mobile sees tablets such as the iPad -- as well as wearable devices -- as a significant opportunity for growth.
"We're very excited about wearables coming with their own radios, and we're seeing some of these on the horizon," T-Mobile marketing chief Mike Sievert added during Thursday's earnings call.
Despite the rapid increase in tablets, smartphones continued to dominate T-Mobile's hardware sales. The carrier moved 6.2 million smartphones in the quarter, and the devices now account for 83 percent of phones on T-Mobile's branded network.
T-Mobile has the smallest exposure of any major carrier to the iPhone, however. Asked for his opinion on whether the launch of Apple's next-generation handset would have a material impact on the company's subscriber growth going forward, Legere said that such an event would present a "huge opportunity," but was cagey on specifics.
"You're not gonna get me to use the iPhone 6 word on this call," Legere joked.
Apple and T-Mobile have worked more closely in recent months as T-Mobile claws its way back into contention with its larger rivals thanks to a series of "Un-Carrier" initiatives. As part of "Un-Carrier 5.0," T-Mobile offered potential customers a free iPhone 5s with unlimited data to "test drive" the carrier's network for one week.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere
"We have completely reversed T-Mobile's trajectory and started a revolution that is changing the rules in wireless," T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in a release. The quarter marks T-Mobile's fifth consecutive period with over 1 million net subscriber additions.
In comparison, competitors AT&T and Verizon posted net additions of 1 million and 1.4 million subscribers, respectively, in their own fiscal second quarters. Sprint, rumored to be in merger talks with T-Mobile, lost 245,000.
Some 329,000 of T-Mobile's additions were mobile broadband customers driven by tablets, the company noted, a five-fold increase from the previous quarter. T-Mobile sees tablets such as the iPad -- as well as wearable devices -- as a significant opportunity for growth.
"We're very excited about wearables coming with their own radios, and we're seeing some of these on the horizon," T-Mobile marketing chief Mike Sievert added during Thursday's earnings call.
Despite the rapid increase in tablets, smartphones continued to dominate T-Mobile's hardware sales. The carrier moved 6.2 million smartphones in the quarter, and the devices now account for 83 percent of phones on T-Mobile's branded network.
T-Mobile has the smallest exposure of any major carrier to the iPhone, however. Asked for his opinion on whether the launch of Apple's next-generation handset would have a material impact on the company's subscriber growth going forward, Legere said that such an event would present a "huge opportunity," but was cagey on specifics.
"You're not gonna get me to use the iPhone 6 word on this call," Legere joked.
Apple and T-Mobile have worked more closely in recent months as T-Mobile claws its way back into contention with its larger rivals thanks to a series of "Un-Carrier" initiatives. As part of "Un-Carrier 5.0," T-Mobile offered potential customers a free iPhone 5s with unlimited data to "test drive" the carrier's network for one week.
Comments
"British Petroleum passes XYZ customers, but CEO refuses to talk about Lamborghini's next car."
count me as a couple of those. i finally moved all three family lines off at&t: two went to t-mobile; one went to a regional carrier. the reduction in monthly costs amounts to about $40. all three lines now have a much better wireless plan and definitely better value. i've found just two specific spots where i do not get a t-mobile signal where i did get an at&t signal, and i've found one specific spot where i now get a t-mobile signal where i did not get an at&t signal. to paraphrase principal skinner: "up yours, at&t".
Good. Nobody should. Respect the wishes from your supplier. Or employer, friend's wishes. But please do not spread rumours, especially not here on Politcal Outsider.com, we have enough issues with disagreements on world topics as it is.
Edit: ooh thanks AI, it all got edited out, good on you!
Quote:
Tmobile is a great deal.
2 lines with unlimited 4G-LTE data, unlimited talk, unlimited text. And 5GB of LTE hotspot for iPads per user (total 10GB). All for $120.
AT&T charges over $200 for a simular plan without unlimited data.
Looks like if you join now my plan cost $140, still about 50% cheaper than Verizon/AT&T. Glad there are only charging me $120
Like I said, if you are not a major consumer of data and talk. I have two iPhones and all the talk, text and data that I need and I pay between $45-50 a month for both phones.
Tmobile is a great deal.
2 lines with unlimited 4G-LTE data, unlimited talk, unlimited text. And 5GB of LTE hotspot for iPads per user (total 10GB). All for $120.
AT&T charges over $200 for a simular plan without unlimited data.
Looks like if you join now my plan cost $140, still about 50% cheaper than Verizon/AT&T. Glad there are only charging me $120
I just switched this month from AT&T. For me, the free international text & data convinced me. It was exorbitant to get a similar level of service on AT&T for roaming in Asia. I gave AT&T a chance to match it before I switched, and they couldn't.
The guy at the T-Mobile store said they are stealing AT&T and especially Sprint customers (ironic, since they may merge).
which carrier?
VZW actually has a unadvertised plan with unlimited talk, text, with 2 GBs of data for $60.
which carrier?
Consumer Cellular
But what about iPad plans? My plan includes 10GB for 2 ipads also with hot spot.
And what kind of network? Does it use 4G-LTE?
My iPad is on the original unlimited plan with AT&T. Consumer Cellular uses the AT&T network.
Tmobile is a great deal.
2 lines with unlimited 4G-LTE data, unlimited talk, unlimited text. And 5GB of LTE hotspot for iPads per user (total 10GB). All for $120.
AT&T charges over $200 for a simular plan without unlimited data.
Looks like if you join now my plan cost $140, still about 50% cheaper than Verizon/AT&T. Glad there are only charging me $120
Interesting perspective. So if I was a cell phone company and I said I would charge you $1000 a month for the plan that you have you would be happy because you are saving $860 a month. The idea is, can you get your plan for less, not more.
As a disruptive force to the general business model of the cell phone industry T-Mobile is not really any different. When you look closely all the good incentives are to get you to move from another carrier. If you are not under contract, they are really not offering anything more or better than the others. If you really want a better deal look at Consumer Cellular which I have found to be much better for those who are not massive data and talk consumers.
I strongly disagree.
If you travel internationally on any sort of annual basis, TMobile is an awesome deal.
Apple wanted to have its own network just for the iPhone back in 2006. They were told they would be forced to allow all phones on it, so they decided against it.
2 lines
Unlimited talk
Unlimited text
Unlimited 4G LTE data
10 GB of hotspot access (for iPads)
No international fees on roaming/text
Straight Talk will do three lines for that price.
We got some mighty big sticks over here.
Really? You're in a 'least cell phone bill' pissing contest with TS?
40.
Good luck with that. No carrier doesn’t throttle.
Who cares? No one uses them anyway. It can’t possibly be financially prudent (or add value to the user) to freely connect to gas stations, coffee shops, or pay phones.