T-Mobile (TMUS) Announces Q4 2019 Delivers 1.9 Million Total Net Additions

January 7, 2020 9:06 AM EST

T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS):

Preliminary Fourth Quarter 2019 Customer Highlights:

  • 1.9 million total net additions
  • 1.3 million branded postpaid net additions
  • 1.0 million branded postpaid phone net additions
  • 1.01% branded postpaid phone churn
  • 77,000 branded prepaid net additions
  • 86.0 million customers in total at year-end 2019

Preliminary Full-Year 2019 Customer Highlights:

  • 7.0 million total net additions
  • 4.5 million branded postpaid net additions
  • 3.1 million branded postpaid phone net additions
  • 339,000 branded prepaid net additions

T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) provided a preliminary view of key customer results for the fourth quarter and full-year 2019. In the fourth quarter, T-Mobile had 1.9 million total net additions, the 27th quarter in a row with more than 1 million total net additions. In addition, the company delivered branded postpaid phone net additions of 1.0 million and branded postpaid phone churn of 1.01% in the fourth quarter. For full-year 2019, T-Mobile had 7.0 million total net additions, including 4.5 million branded postpaid net additions - beating its increased customer guidance range of 4.1 to 4.3 million for the full-year 2019. T-Mobile's total customer base was 86.0 million at year-end 2019, an increase of approximately 53 million since T-Mobile launched the Un-carrier in 2013.

“T-Mobile delivered another incredible fourth quarter with strong customer growth, despite a very competitive environment - and we did it while lighting up the country's first nationwide 5G network and working to close our merger with Sprint,” said John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile. “7 million net customers have chosen to join the Un-carrier movement in 2019, and they are choosing T-Mobile because we treat them right, we eliminate their pain points, and we are changing the rules of this industry for customers everywhere."

Preliminary Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2019 Customer Results

T-Mobile continued to demonstrate the brand’s ongoing strength and momentum in the fourth quarter of 2019, reflected once again by the company’s strong net customer additions. T-Mobile’s unrivaled customer-experience obsession provides customers with access to a host of Un-carrier benefits solving everyday pain points and the best customer service in the industry with T-Mobile’s Team of Experts. T-Mobile added 1.9 million total net customers in the fourth quarter - bringing its total customer base to 86.0 million at year-end 2019. This marks the 27th consecutive quarter that T-Mobile has generated more than 1 million total net customer additions. Notably, the company lit up America’s first nationwide 5G network in the fourth quarter of 2019 using 600 MHz spectrum – a foundational layer of its 5G network – covering more than 200 million people and more than 1 million square miles across the US.

Branded postpaid phone net additions amounted to 1.0 million, flat year-over-year and up 33% from 754,000 net additions in the third quarter of 2019. This result reflects strong gross branded postpaid phone customer additions, up 5% year-over-year, in a very competitive environment.

T-Mobile also saw continued strength in total branded postpaid net additions, reporting net additions of 1.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. For full-year 2019, the company added 4.5 million branded postpaid net additions, which exceeded the top end of the increased guidance range for branded postpaid net customer additions of 4.1 to 4.3 million.

Branded prepaid net customer additions were 77,000 in the fourth quarter of 2019 and 339,000 for full-year 2019. Migrations to branded postpaid plans reduced branded prepaid net customer additions by approximately 160,000 in the fourth quarter of 2019 and 525,000 for full-year 2019.

Wholesale net customer additions were 472,000 in the fourth quarter of 2019 and 2.2 million for full-year 2019.

Postpaid phone churn amounted to 1.01% in the fourth quarter of 2019, up 2 basis points year-over-year, reflecting continued strong brand loyalty in a heightened competitive environment.

Branded prepaid churn was 3.97% in the fourth quarter of 2019, down 2 basis points year-over-year and down 1 basis point sequentially.

Preliminary Customer Results

Our customer results for the fourth quarter and full-year 2019 are preliminary and subject to change pending completion of our year-end closing review procedures. America’s Un-carrier plans to share more details and its full financial results for the fourth quarter and full-year 2019 in February.

As of % Change
(in thousands)

December 31,
2019

September 30,
2019

December 31,
2018

Qtr/Qtr Year/Year
Customers, end of period
Branded postpaid phone customers 40,345 39,344 37,224 3% 8%
Branded postpaid other customers 6,689 6,376 5,295 5% 26%
Total branded postpaid customers 47,034 45,720 42,519 3% 11%
Branded prepaid customers (1) 20,860 20,783 21,137 % (1)%
Total branded customers 67,894 66,503 63,656 2% 7%
Wholesale customers (1) 18,152 17,680 15,995 3% 13%
Total customers, end of period 86,046 84,183 79,651 2% 8%
Adjustments to branded prepaid customers

(616

)

(1) On July 18, 2019, we entered into an agreement whereby certain T-Mobile branded prepaid products will now be offered and distributed by a current MVNO partner. As a result, we included a base adjustment in Q3 2019 to reduce branded prepaid customers by 616,000. Prospectively, new customer activity associated with these products is recorded within wholesale customers.
Quarter % Change Year Ended % Change
(in thousands) Q4 2019 Q3 2019 Q4 2018 Qtr/Qtr Year/Year 2019 2018

2019 vs 2018

Net customer additions
Branded postpaid phone customers 1,001 754 1,020 33 % (2)% 3,121 3,097 1 %
Branded postpaid other customers 313 320 338 (2)% (7)% 1,394 1,362 2 %
Total branded postpaid customers 1,314 1,074 1,358 22 % (3)% 4,515 4,459 1 %
Branded prepaid customers (1) 77 62 135 24 % (43)% 339 460 (26)%
Total branded customers 1,391 1,136 1,493 22 % (7)% 4,854 4,919 (1)%
Wholesale customers (1) 472 611 909 (23)% (48)% 2,157 2,125 2 %
Total net customer additions 1,863 1,747 2,402 7 % (22)% 7,011 7,044 %
(1) On July 18, 2019, we entered into an agreement whereby certain T-Mobile branded prepaid products will now be offered and distributed by a current MVNO partner. As a result, we included a base adjustment in Q3 2019 to reduce branded prepaid customers by 616,000. Prospectively, new customer activity associated with these products is recorded within wholesale customers.
Quarter Qtr/Qtr Year/Year Year Ended

2019 vs
2018

Q4 2019 Q3 2019 Q4 2018 2019 2018
Branded postpaid phone churn 1.01% 0.89% 0.99% 12 bps 2 bps 0.89% 1.01% -12 bps
Branded prepaid churn 3.97% 3.98% 3.99% -1 bps -2 bps 3.82% 3.96% -14 bps



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