T-Mobile beats second-quarter phone estimates, shares jump
(Reuters) - T-Mobile US Inc said on Thursday it added more monthly bill-paying phone subscribers than expected in the second quarter, as more people used its services to stay connected and work
August 6, 2020
(Reuters) – T-Mobile US Inc said on Thursday it added more monthly bill-paying phone subscribers than expected in the second quarter, as more people used its services to stay connected and work remotely during coronavirus lockdowns.
The U.S. wireless carrier’s shares rose more than 7% in extended trading.
Its net income, however, dropped sharply due to costs associated with its merger with Sprint Corp, previously the fourth-largest phone provider, which closed in April.
T-Mobile said it has overtaken rival AT&T as the second-largest wireless provider in the United States across postpaid, in which customers pay a recurring monthly bill, and prepaid phones – customers paying for service in advance.
T-Mobile reported 98.3 million customers in those categories, while AT&T had nearly 93 million postpaid and prepaid subscribers in its second quarter.
T-Mobile has sought to attract budget-constrained customers with its cheaper phone plans after the pandemic left millions of people in the United States unemployed.
It added 253,000 net new phone subscribers who pay a monthly bill, compared with 710,000 additions a year earlier.
Analysts had expected 169,200 new subscribers, according to research firm FactSet.
T-Mobile’s second-quarter net income fell to $110 million, or 9 cents per share, from $939 million, or $1.09 per share, a year earlier.
Revenue jumped 61% to $17.67 billion, above analysts’ estimates of $17.61 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru and Sheila Dang in New York; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Dan Grebler)