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T-Mobile USA has just announced their Q2 2012 operating results and it looks like it’s going to take a lot more than Carly in tight leather to reel customers in. Down 50,000 the year before, the only carrier in the US to not offer the iPhone on its network is reporting a loss of 205,000 customers who have headed for greener pastures.
It’s not all bad news, T-Mobile is still staying proactive, with plans to open up 1,000 retail stores across the US and working on getting their LTE network up and running for 2013 (wonder if they’ll try and call it 5G). When it comes to their current AWS (3G/4G) network, they’ll be expanding coverage to more areas thanks to spectrum they’ll be receiving from AT&T and, if approved, Verizon as well.
Here’s some more highlights:
- Adjusted OIBDA increased 4.8% year-on-year to $1.3 billion in the second quarter of 2012
- Adjusted OIBDA margin improved 3 percentage points year-on-year to 31% in the second quarter of 2012
- Total service revenues of $4.4 billion in the second quarter of 2012 compared to $4.4 billion in the first quarter of 2012 and $4.6 billion in the second quarter of 2011, a decrease of 5.2% year-on-year
- Branded contract churn of 2.10% in the second quarter of 2012; 40 bps decrease quarter-over-quarter and 50 bps decrease year-on-year
- Net customer losses of 205,000 in the second quarter of 2012 compared to 50,000 net customer losses in the second quarter of 2011
- Branded contract net customer losses of 557,000 in the second quarter of 2012, compared to 510,000 branded contract net customer losses in the first quarter of 2012 and 536,000 branded contract net customer losses in the second quarter of 2011
- Strong branded prepaid net customer additions of 227,000 in the second quarter of 2012 compared to 71,000 branded prepaid net customer losses in the second quarter of 2011 and branded prepaid net customer additions of 249,000 in the first quarter of 2012
- Branded contract ARPU increased slightly year-on-year to $57.35 in the second quarter of 2012
- Branded contract data ARPU increased 14.6% year-on-year to $19.16 in the second quarter of 2012
- Branded prepaid ARPU increased 13.6% year-on-year to $26.81 in the second quarter of 2012
- 3G/4G smartphones sold increased 31% year-on-year to 2.1 million in the second quarter of 2012
- Solid progress on key strategic initiatives, including plans to expand network coverage and rollout LTE service in 2013
Not mentioned in the bullet points, but something I’m personally looking forward to is T-Mobile’s refarming of their 2G network, converting it over to 3G/4G. Once fully rolled out, it means you’ll not only be able to use AT&T devices on their network, but international Android devices as well. Couple that with T-Mobile’s palatable pre-paid plans and you have a deal that’s hard to beat.
[T-Mobile]
ooh, dat carly
I used to love T-Mobile but once they started the data cap I jumped ship faster than you can blink and went to sprint…..patiently waiting for their lte……their slow data speeds now don’t bug me much I’m always around wifi either at work or at home.
I loved them too, but never really got reliable connection for some areas for voice and a lot of unreliable data…at least where I used it most. Now they are trying to entice us using a woman…argh.
Yep, while the majority of their network (I’m talking physical here, not pop’s) remains GPRS and EDGE, like much of NorCal.
I have always wanted to support, T-Mo… but, everywhere I go I have connection issues… I do connect, but I’m not on 4G.. I’m not on 3G.. I’m on 2G… Hard to believe when I live in a City like Phoenix. I Think Im just going to keep my Sprint account and wait for their LTE… they seem to be expanding fast in most markets… not to mention they have treated me great…
http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/212-network-visionlte-deployment-running-list/
Can’t wait for Edge to disappear for good. In random spots outside my house, it will suddenly drop down to Edge, then slowly climb it’s way back to 3G. Also, for some reason, T-mobile can’t hang on to HSPA on my Galaxy Nexus. It is constantly switching between the 3G and H icons.
Don’t rely on those icons as an indicator of your 4g connectivity…a quick speed test will tell you what you are actually getting.
Speed tests are pretty 3G-ish, and it is definite difference when it switches to the Edge icon.
I love TMO, but I believe they need to remove their caps, stop trying to match vzw and att on handset pricing (I’m looking at you, Galaxy Note for $250), and re-evaluate their rate plans…used to be that they were CLEARLY the best value.
I know these things won’t help the bottom line immediately, but I believe they would in the long term.
Man i agree with you 110%, i been saying that for the longest time, hopefully tmobile gets it soon, because is not looking good for them.
I was so so so very close to switching to T-mobile in the last few weeks but ended up sticking with Sprint because they are going to start upgrading in my area very soon and actually have just west of where I am. I would have switched though had T-mobile had true unlimited data. /shrug
I am a long time TMO customer who lives in a very fast HSPA+ area, saying that I wiill tell you over the last few months my signal has gotten worse, I will be outside in my yard and my signal will be very strong with all bars up, I will start to drop to 3, 2 then just one bar and sometimes to Edge. The damn tower is just a rocks throw away and that is not right. This has NEVER been a problem until just recently. Several phones I own from TMO will all do this same thing. It is like they have removed towers and are squeezing all the trafic thru one tower and the signal will just drop as customers get on and off the tower. I am not a tech person but this is not normal. The excuses I have received are ridiculous. I will not stay unless I can get some kind of a reason for this and a plan for it to get better. I am very discouraged and pissed off.
Same exact issue here.
I’ve been with them for well over a decade in the Boulder Colorado area and at one point even noticed a significant signal boost at my house just last year. All of a sudden, my signal just vanished. I used to be able to make calls from the basement and now I can barely make a call standing on my roof.
CS tried to pawn it off on needing a new sim card. Well, I popped a new one in that I had laying around and no change. I have several devices in the household and all of them are having the same issue.
It was a great feeling to not drop calls but about 2-3 times a year. Now they’re dropping like that every hour, or the call isn’t even coming in. I can’t wait around for them to fix this. I need the phone to work like an actual phone. I do still talk to people.
I’m on t-mo in the san fernando valley portion of los angeles county and t-mo here gets faster/more consistent coverage than verizon’s 3G, at&t’s hspa+ and sprint’s 3G. I only pay the $30 a month prepaid with unlimited text and 5gb of hspa+ data and it works great for where I’m located.