It looks like this whole “uncarrier” thing might be working out for T-Mobile after all. The wireless carrier on Thursday posted its second quarter earnings results, showing the largest growth it has seen in four years. Revenue increased to $6.23 billion, up from $4.68 billion a year ago. Much of this growth can be attributed to the company’s acquisition of MetroPCS in May. The company’s EBITDA, however, fell to $1.1 billion, down 16 percent from one year ago. T-Mobile attributes this to “higher promotional expenditures [and] significantly higher gross additions.”
The company added 1.1 million subscribers, including 685,000 postpaid customers. Much of this is thanks to T-Mobile’s launch of the iPhone on April 12, which accounted for 29 percent of the carrier’s sales. In all, T-Mobile sold 4.3 million smartphones, which made up 86 percent of its overall phones sales. That’s up from 71 percent last year.
John Legere, T-Mobile’s president and CEO, attributes the growth primarily to T-Mobile’s new wireless plans. Legere said in a statement:
“T-Mobile’s Un-carrier approach has clearly resonated with consumers. By fixing the things that drive them mad, like contracts and upgrades, and freeing them from the two-year sentences imposed on them by our competitors, they are choosing the new T-Mobile in unprecedented numbers. We are just beginning and we will continue to apply this innovative thinking to the Un-carrier offers we create and to the internal operations of our company, which taken together are driving significant shareholder value creation.”
We may see things start to slow down now that T-Mobile has been carrying the iPhone for nearly four months, but with Apple expected to release a new phone (or two) next month, T-Mobile looks like it could be in pretty good shape.
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