T-Mobile USA posts strong Q2

T-Mobile USA Inc. continued to chug along as the industry’s No. 4 carrier, but the third fastest-growing operator during the second quarter adding 857,000 new customers to its network and ending the period with nearly 27 million total customers. The growth fell short of the big 2, AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless, but easily outdistanced No. 3 carrier Sprint Nextel Corp., which posted 400,000 net customer additions for the quarter.
T-Mobile USA’s second-quarter growth outpaced the 613,000 subscribers it added during Q2 2006, but fell short of the nearly 1 million subscribers added during the first quarter of this year. The carrier noted that postpaid customers accounted for 80% of new subscribers added during the most recent quarter, which was down from the 83% posted last year.
Customer churn dropped from 2.9% during the second quarter of 2006 to 2.7% this year, while postpaid churn dropped from 2.2% to 1.8% over the same time frame. Blended average revenue per user also improved from $52 last year to $53 this year, with data ARPU jumping from $5.70 last year to $7.80 this year.
The strong year-over-year customer growth and modest ARPU gains helped propel T-Mobile USA’s revenues more than 13% from $4.2 billion during the second quarter of 2006 to $4.8 billion this year. Net income also increased from $233 million in 2006 to $350 million this year.