T-Mobile added more mobile and internet customers in the second quarter and raised its expectations for the full year, an unusually optimistic sign amid so much economic uncertainty.
But the company posted a loss for the period due to ongoing costs from the Sprint merger and a settlement related to one of its data breaches.
Still, the higher guidance contrasts with peers’ shakier outlook given rising prices. AT&T found that some of its subscribers were taking longer to pay their bills, while Verizon continued to suffer subscriber losses. T-Mobile, in particular, didn’t raise prices during the period, part of a promise to the US government to secure its acquisition of Sprint.
T-Mobile announced in its second quarterly report that it added 1.7 million net subscribers, of which 723,000 were post-paid mobile subscribers. These customers, who pay their bills at the end of the month, are considered a key metric for success in the industry as these customers are reliable sources of income.
This continues a string of relatively good quarters for the carrier that followed growth in postpaid, prepaid and 5G home internet users in the April quarter. T-Mobile expects full year net additions of between 6 million and 6.3 million, up from 5.3 million to 5.8 million previously forecast.
T-Mobile also noted that it had increased its coverage lead. Its low-band 5G network now reaches 320 million Americans, while its faster and wider mid-band ultra-capacity 5G now covers 235 million and is expected to cover 300 million by the end of 2022. In comparison, AT&T plans to cover 100 million people and Verizon plans to reach 175 million people by the end of the year.
T-Mobile’s quarterly results were more upbeat than AT&T, which reported last week that it added 813,000 net postpaid subscribers but provided more detailed commentary on the economic environment. Verizon had the worst second quarter as it lost wireless subscribers.
T-Mobile has added 560,000 high-speed internet customers, more than five times the 95,000 subscribers a year ago, as its 5G Home service launches. It’s also a growth area for Verizon, which added 256,000 more net subscribers to its home 5G in the second quarter, a 50% increase from the first quarter.
T-Mobile had revenue of $19.7 billion in the second quarter and, after accounting for expenses, resulted in a total net loss of $108 million. This is down from $19.9 billion in revenue and $978 million in net income for the same period last year.
The airline’s $108 million in lost net income represents a loss of 9 cents in earnings per share, below expectations of 28 cents in earnings per share at Yahoo and well below the 78 cents in earnings per share for the same period in the year 2021 was .
T-Mobile shares are up 4% in recent trading.
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