T-Mobile CEO John Legere stated today that the wireless carrier has overtaken Sprint, in terms of the number of its customers, to become the third biggest wireless carrier in the US. Legere made those claims as part of T-Mobile's quarterly conference call to analysts following the release of its latest financial results.
Legere claims Sprint's customer base has stayed the same for the past two years with 55 million customers, while T-Mobile has experienced a massive amount of customer growth. During the conference call he stated:
T-Mobile had 33 million customers. We merged with MetroPCS and went to 42 million customers and we've since added 13 million customers to get up to, guess what, 55 million customers.
He also claimed that Sprint has used some inactive MVNO customers when reporting on its customer base. In other words, T-Mobile is ahead of Sprint, but just barely. However, Legere said that T-Mobile's lead over Sprint would become clearer "by the next quarter or two."
This morning, T-Mobile reported a profit of $101 million for the fourth quarter of 2014, compared to a loss of $20 million for the same period a year ago. Revenue came in at $8.15 billion for the quarter, up nearly 20% from a year ago. The carrier added 2.1 million new customers in the quarter and said it added 8.3 million new customers for the entire year.
Source: T-Mobile (YouTube); Via: The Verge
Reader comments
T-Mobile claims the #3 US carrier spot, passing over Sprint
T Mobile where I live is horrible even in spots where the other main 3 have solid to excellent reception.
I just want to say this to all of the people that claimed T-Mobile's current plans, discounts, and offers were unsustainable and that they could never turn a profit: told you so. :-)
Sure, they're not exactly rolling in billions, but, if they keep gaining customers, they're profit will increase.
I agree, I'm in the Belleair Bluffs (Tampabay) area and Sprint is spotty Big Time!.... VERY GLAD I SWITCHED TO T MOBILE
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Also in Tampa and two years ago when I switched from Sprint service was stellar now it's spotty and slower.
And Sprint starts courting US Cellular in 3...2...1...
/Kidding. I'm a happy Sprint customer.
All this talk about network expansion, but yet T-Mobile says they will have 300m pops covered with LTE by the end of the year, which is essentially the entire country.
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Good luck with that Jay....
WE're Number 3. WE're Number 3. WE"RE NUMBER FREAKING 3!
OK and?
T-Mobile was my first choice, after the bad experience I'm not likely to suggest them to a friend though. They may be a good company over all just not for me. I will say that I am glad that Sprint does not brand the g3 at least on the esthetics. Not that I could see it through my case anyway. Lol
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Sprint is for suckers.
Not really sure what you meant by that perhaps you could elaborate. By simply stating sprint is for suckers seems you might have more to say on the subject. Did you have a bad experience with them ? Also to have made such a statement you must have been there customer at some point. Witch would make you an ex sucker by default. Seriously though I'm curious what makes a person have such a strong opinion.
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He's in EVERY article that contains Sprint and says the same thing..."Sprint is for suckers"...over and over and over like a broken record.
I'm an agent of truth.
No you are a knob.
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Who cares if they are in 3rd or 4th. Go what best fits your needs.
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J John Legere is just padding his resume, and soon will leave for greener pastures.
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Yeah he will
Posted by my soon to be retired Note 3
Congrats T-Mobile
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For so long, it seemed this industry was content with just colluding and merging. T-Mobile is the great disrupter. They force wireless carriers to compete for subscribers.
As VZW and AT&T sit aside and smiling utter, "Awww... so cute!"
If that were the case, they wouldn't be holding promotion after promotion and raising data limits while at the same time lowering prices. You can deny it all you want, but the recent price war and race to the bottom is due to T-Mobile and Sprint lowering prices. Verizon and AT&T are definitely not just sitting around and laughing.
120M kid. Shhh... Keep in mind that AT&T almost BOUGHT T-Mobile.
Competitors buy each other all the time. That doesn't make the company possibly being bought any less of a competitor. And, 26 years of age hardly qualifies me as a kid. Try again.
So did sprint. What is the point?
Posted by my soon to be retired Note 3
Why do you think AT&T wanted to buy TMo? When you're a big business, the best way to silence a competitor who scares you is to buy them.
And in other news AT&T and Verizon are still crooks....
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I've been very happy with Tmobile for their great service. Coverage is great here where I live and it even won Rootsmetrics award here in the Phoenix area for overall performance. Well it tied for 1st with ATT... http://www.rootmetrics.com/us/rsr/phoenix-az
Thanks AC for the proper headline. _T-Mobile claims..._
I've had t-mobile for a long time and i've loved every second of it as d I'm happy to see them successful
Posted via Galaxy Note 4
Still unsustainable cost per customer. Let's see how that works
Posted by my soon to be retired Note 3
You waited this long to troll the article? You are off your game.
That is the difference between your perception of trolling and reality. No one is trolling but you.
Posted by my soon to be retired Note 3
You are a known troll. You wait for T-Mobile or Nexus articles so you can shit on them. That's the very definition of troll.
You're a good one to be talking. I see you trolling "Sprint" articles and shitting on them as well. So I guess it takes one to know one huh?
Gator he actually strung a few words into a sentence. It's is a major accomplishment
Posted by my soon to be retired Note 3
You know what? I said nothing but fact, as I usually do. How is that trolling?
Posted by my soon to be retired Note 3
You didn't start out trolling, I agree. However you sure are now.
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And Sprint's cost per customer is sustainable?
Well T-Mobile in my opinion has some terrible business practices. Not six months ago I was looking to their service for my small business. After the credit check call was dropped by their associate I was told that they were unable to help me until a 60 day waiting period was up, Due to the fact that I had terminated the call??? What... Then come to find out they ran my credit 3 times. After the waiting period was up they tell me that I need to pay $50 deposit per line due to excessive credit checks. I swear in total I have spent 12 hours on the phone with them and no resolution. I am now with sprint and love the service from their business department. They approved my business for six line's unlimited spending. So what was the problem T-Mobile?
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T mobile network has seen some major upgrades in my area. They went from a 1x network to LTE in the past 6 months. Thinking about giving them a try again when my republic Moto X(2013) dies.
T-Mobile doesn't use 1X.
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This is great for TMo but as always, haterz gonna hate.
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I'm in Tampa, and for me, T mobile has been fine. Sprint was horrible. Price wise, both offer better plans than the big two. It's just a matter of coverage where you live.
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Glad to see Tmo doing well! However as an att customer I'm more than happy at the moment,. For 2 phones and what is unlimited data to us is less than $50 each with my work discount. :)
T-Mobile offers the 2 lines for $100 with Unlimited data.
Same here...and my work gives me $50/month toward my cell phone bill too. LOL
If you are in an LTE area with Sprint they are great. At least they are for me. The only issues I have are that I decided to buy a Nexus 6 which is not the best phone to buy if you're on Sprint.
It would seem based on his comments that Sprint isn't losing customers so much as T-mobile is gaining. I would imagine Verizon or ATT are losing them. Must be ATT because Verizon seems to gain all the time.
Yea, verizon will continue to gain customers, especially business who rely on a stable and reliable network.
Sprint lost 205,000 mainstream “postpaid” cellphone customers in the final three months of the year, posted a higher monthly customer loss rate and wrote down the value of its trademark by $1.9 billion. The results extended a streak of customer losses, and revenue declined 1.8% over the past year.
You keep saying that. You want it to be true. Unfortunately for most, wanting does not mean having.
Just because it hasn't yet doesn't mean it won't. And yes, they have been getting better. Every one said 3 years ago Tmo was a lost cause and about to burn like Chernobyl.....but yet have they?
See it works both ways....
It's equally ridiculous for a carrier to expect customers to just wait around for literally YEARS continuing to pay their bill for sub par service on the hopes that it will be better someday. How long should Sprint customers wait?.5 years? 10 years?.Long time customers have already been waiting years.
My patience with Sprint wore out over a year ago and couldn't be happier with my move to T-Mobile. Works so much better for me.
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AT&T isn't losing customers.
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LTE here in San Antonio, surrounding area, and all major Texas cities is blazing on Sprint.
Posted via the Android Central App on Nexus 5.
Agreed, from Houston. I find the occasional "3G-only" areas if I get *way* out into some of the more rural suburbs, but I get great network speed 98% of the time. And, I get completely unlimited data for cheaper than what it would cost on T-Mobile.
Switched from Sprint to TMo last month. Loving it. Regularly get 25+MBps here in Sacramento and most surrounding counties. I never had LTE on Sprint, or WiMax for that matter. I had the original EVO, a Galaxy S2, and a Note II. 4g was rare to come by on all phones.
Agreed, also switched from Sprint to tmobile in Sacramento....Woot Woot! There are still a few dead spots where I live, but not nearly as pervasive as Sprint!
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Aww what a shame and I just left their butts for At&t yesterday! FYI, T-Mobile was the worst service I've ever had.
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+1M
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Yep, not everyone has every service where they live. I was going to do the same thing but tmobile in my area is way better than att and sprint. It depends on your area. That's the case with every network. Verizon is the network that has the least gaps.
Personally I wouldn't say worst, but it was right up there because I travel often and just couldn't get service in too many areas.
Sprint has always been faithful, at times slow data, but faithful.
Posted via the Android Central App on Nexus 5.
Great... Have no issues with T-Mobile after giving them a second chance couple of years back. Unlimited data, pay less since I buy my own carrier crap free unlocked devices. Couldn't be more happy with them in terms of network quality, helps that I stay in a major city since T-Mobile has good network on cities.
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If T-Mobile had the network I'd switch to them in a heartbeat. I love that they are shaking up the other carriers by doing things differently.
Posted via the Android Central App on the 2nd Gen. Moto X
Yea, definitely. In my area i would have never given tmobile a thought. Now i'm going into 2 years and I love them. LTE speeds never below 20mbps and the only issue i have now is 2g coverage is a lot in some areas but by mid year all 2g will be LTE so that will fill in a lot of gaps.
and IF your aunt had balls she'd be your uncle.
...what
and you'd want to date him/her
And make babies
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That comment kinda came out of left field lol
It's Gekko. Occasional weird comments are part of the territory.
Now if they could just roll that extra money into expanding the network faster I would finally give up my AT&T MVNO.
Expansion is not going to happen until all 2g is LTE and their current LTE upgrades are mostly complete. You can't expand a network until the current network is stable enough to sustain the growth. Just look at what happened with att and their issues with iphone users.
The reason for the expansion speed is irrelevant. I understand there are technical difficulties associated with expanding the network. Right now, I would guess that capital is being invested more heavily in customer acquisition... it's a necessary evil in order to build the customer base you need to expand.
I'm only stating that "if" they could do it faster, "I" would be able to dump my MVNO.
Good for them, all of my friends with Sprint agree that they need step their game up.
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Sprint has been getting better.. Their new spark has some nice potential.. I hope.
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Legere, you magnificent bastard, you did it! Congrats!
Nexus 5 + AT&T GoPhone
Yeah congrats on being number 3 and staying there.
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“T-Mobile was dying. For years, they couldn’t hit the nail on the head,” says independent telecom industry analyst Jeff Kagan. “Their success is 100% due to [CEO] John Legere and the executives he brought in.”
Or a great marketing campaign.
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Marketing only works if people like your product.
Which came from... John Legere and the team he brought in with him
Stop being obtuse.
For once, I agree with you
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Some people just are born to hate... Smh
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Yeah basically! Its AT&T and Verizon and everyone else is a distant 3rd. Unless they improve their network immensely they will remain there. Just because it works good in you area doesn't mean anything. I have traveled all over the US and have always had great service with AT&T. Even the towns in the middle of nowhere
Posted Via AT&T Note 3
I wish they would spend just as much time or more effort in expanding the network. Coming from a T-Mobile customer, my network has gotten worse over the past year here in Tampa, FL.
You do realize they need to get more customers, to make more money, to enhance their network?
I was on T-mo from 2003-2009 and had friends on now, in all those years they have never expanded network coverage here in the midwest in the IL, MO, KS areas.
Their coverage sucks outside a major metropolis, leave a major highway and lose all connection.
Sprint's coverage here is very good, better than ATT swiss cheese, even in the city, and T-mo which is the worst, and Verizon of course is the best.
Too Bad T-mo didn't take their billions from the ATT deal that failed and invest it in coverage, cell towers cost $250 K a piece, that money could of reinforced or expanded into a lot of markets.
After my terrible experiences with T-Mo I'll never go back to them ever, they treat valued customers as they called me, like crap, wouldn't give me a new phone 11 months in on a 12 month warranty that had technical issues and was undamaged. They gave me an ETF after I PAID to break my contract for their month to month, that was brand new at the time, plan like their Rep suggested to me a few months before so I could get a better minutes and text deal. Screw T-mo the worst carrier
you see they only made 101 million this Q and lost millions last Q. To improve the network they need billions.
Well, they need to make enough money to show lenders that they're profitable and stable enough to secure funding, at least.
But their service worthless.
They're working on expanding first. Hard to get more customers if they don't even have quality service in all the major cities in the US.
Posted on my OnePlus One
More customers means a more stained network. It's like a vicious cycle.
Not really. The way that tmobile is expanding is adding more throughput as they add customers. REason why adding more customers is keeping LTE speeds still above 22mbps in most areas, even congested areas, and band 12 will help even more on top of wideband LTE.
Do you mean in the big city outdoor only! Not inside or between big building.
I have no issues indoors or between big buildings. I think the only building i have issues in is a walmart in my town that has metal roof. Do you have tmobile?
Yeah. That's why I get 80+ mbps down almost everywhere I go here in Seattle, because it's so strained.
Exactly... 52Mbps on my speedtest done just a minute ago...
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You do realize that little Seattle is not the whole country.
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Yeah. It's kind of hard to test the "whole country" unless you are a nomad or walk the Earth like Kane from Kung Fu.
However, you'd have to think that if there were network congestion it would happen in a densely populated metro area rather than a rural area.
A commercial truck driver would be able to give a testimony regarding the whole country, or a good majority of it.
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Ask any commercial truck driver, and they will tell you that T-Mobile has the worst network of the big 4 when you consider coverage that goes beyond the borders of major cities. Data becomes complete unusable just outside of the city limits.
I've tested T-Mobile versus the other three on the road, and you'd have to be insane to pick T-Mobile for your carrier if you hit the road at all.
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That's so incorrect it almost hurts me. I've traveled quite a bit with T-Mobile and while data on the road might be slow why do you need that when you're supposed to be driving? I can still use GPS, talk, and text.
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How about streaming internet radio or podcasts?
How about having a signal, a strong, usually 4G signal, almost everywhere you stop?
I want to love T-Mobile, but as a truck driver, I love Verizon's network more. When T-Mob's network can be everywhere I go, every day, I'll switch.
I have three million miles, and I'll be retired long before that ever happens.
Posted from the redheaded stepchild of the Nexii
Same here. After 10 years on the road trucking, I'm still comparing them all and T-Mobile is actually worse than sprint. Overall Number 1 spot VZW and Att #2. Though it is hard tell - lately, they are very close
via AC App on VZW Moto X DE/N7
You mention talking and texting, neither of those require a data connection. GPS can also function without data.
I appreciate the concern about distracted driving, but you aren't considering instances when there are passengers in the vehicle that would be using that data. Additionally, as others have mentioned, some uses of data are valid when driving (streaming music, audible notifications for incoming email, GPS apps that require active data connections, rest stop usage of data when the vehicle isn't in motion, etc.)
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With gps and Google maps it helps to have data and especially if you use waze. Plus many people use apps like Pandora or slacker and these require data, so yes, T-Mobile is bad for a business that requires traveling.
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I am a truck driver, All the carriers have issues with their networks in general. So don`t believe what you read, I drove the 48 State and Canada too.
Yes, you're absolutely correct. However, have you tested T-Mobile on the road? There is a massive jump in signal availability and speed if you use Sprint instead of T-Mobile. It gets even better if you are with AT&T or Verizon.
T-Mobile just isn't even close to the other three carriers.
For those that are curious, I am currently a customer of Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile. I've also got close to 1 Million miles logged. So, yes I've got actual experience with the coverage, and am not just talking about theoretical concerns.
Like others, I'd love to see all of the big 4 succeed. Some of them just have more work to do than others.
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Well, after all those distraught Seahawks fans jumped off the bandwagon and into the Sound a few weeks ago, no wonder you've got great download speeds.
Lmao!!!
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They can't afford to, yet. But with what they have they are doing a great job. And yea that breakup fee is only reason they are able to do what their doing. But more and more people are flocking to them which means more revenue. I guess we will see what happens with the 2g conversion to LTE. If this happens on time they will keep and get more customers. I still think they will need a big investor or merger.
$3 billion
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Att money is a debunked lie
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Years ago, and instead of giving bonuses to executives, they reinvested it... Smart
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They have already addressed this topic. They are trying to expand where they can but their focus now is to get LTE to most of their current network and add longer range to some towers and then they will add more towers where they need it. Your'e area is unique in this case. In my case my coverage has expanded and some 2g is now LTE and in my small town we have a brand new LTE tower or converted tower. Hopefully things will keep improving.
Agreed!
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I have a few family members in Tampa (me too) and they get good service with TMo. To compare, I'm on Verizon and want to go to TMo...
I have a new Moto X Developer Edition, while 2013's flagship, does, or supposed to get XLTE speeds.
Some speed tests around the Univesity area and Brandon area. (DL/UL)
1.12/0.22mbps
2.72/0.31
2.36/0.43
1.06/0.09
3.92/1.47
3.40/0.23
these are over the last 3 weeks. Ihave hit 60 as the high, but that was just testing as I was going home.
My last phone, another LTE phone would also get speeds under 1mbps. I noticed that my speeds before were also going down. I believe as an unlimited data plan user, VZW was throttling because no way should that speed be that low in our area.
To add to the fun anecdotes, here in Northeastern Ohio, the T-mo network has significantly improved. Also, when I visit my brother in Georgia, I was getting about the same amount of signal as he was with VZW, except my LTE was faster. :-)
My point? They ARE building out the network. When my brother moved down there, there was only EDGE signal. Now I get LTE (less than a year later).
In short, they're aggressively building out their network.