T-Mobile Grows Key Customer Segment -- WSJ
January 08 2020 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Drew FitzGerald and Dave Sebastian
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (January 8, 2020).
T-Mobile US Inc. said it added one million of its most
profitable cellphone customers in the fourth quarter, driving the
carrier's subscriber base closer to its larger rivals' as it awaits
a ruling on its proposed merger with Sprint Corp.
The Bellevue, Wash., company issued preliminary results showing
a net gain of one million postpaid phone customers during the last
three months of 2019, plus 77,000 more prepaid subscribers.
Postpaid subscribers are important to carriers because they tend to
pay their monthly bills regularly and are less likely to switch
providers.
T-Mobile ended the year with about 67.9 million customers,
excluding "wholesale customers" who pay another brand that uses its
cellphone network. The company typically reports full
fourth-quarter results, including profit and cash flow metrics,
later in the year.
T-Mobile's proposed $26 billion merger with Sprint, announced in
2018, has overshadowed the company's steady growth over the past
two years.
Lawyers for both sides are scheduled to deliver closing
arguments in the case on Jan. 15, following a two-week December
trial that featured testimony from top executives at T-Mobile and
Sprint as well as their corporate parents, Deutsche Telekom AG and
SoftBank Group Corp.
The merger's uncertain outcome has done little to curb the No. 3
carrier's overall growth. Executives said Tuesday that unusually
heated competition near the end of 2019 helped T-Mobile win more
customers. Dueling promotions can crimp carrier profits, though
they also offer discounters an opportunity to gain a bigger share
of the market.
"We're able to simultaneously pursue this prize of combining
with Sprint while delivering in the near term," Mike Sievert, the
company's operating chief, said Tuesday at a Citigroup Inc.
technology conference in Las Vegas.
Mr. Sievert is slated to take over as chief executive in May
after longtime boss John Legere's contract expires. Mr. Legere said
he announced the planned handoff early ahead of the Sprint merger
trial to avoid complicating the litigation.
Combining T-Mobile with its smaller rival would create a third
major wireless provider with roughly as many customers as Verizon
Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. Verizon ended the September
quarter with 118.6 million wireless connections, including devices
like tablets and smartwatches. AT&T reported 92.9 million
domestic wireless subscribers.
--Dave Sebastian contributed to this article.
Write to Drew FitzGerald at andrew.fitzgerald@wsj.com and Dave
Sebastian at dave.sebastian@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 08, 2020 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)
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