Aggressive T-Mobile losing money, adding customers

[PillowSmoke]

 

(CNN) -- T-Mobile got aggressive in 2013, positioning itself as the "UnCarrier" and actively courting customers of other mobile providers to switch.

According to the company, it's working -- at least in terms of adding new customers.

 

The fourth-largest mobile carrier in the United States was also the fastest-growing in 2013, adding 4.4 million customers, T-Mobile said Tuesday during a quarterly call with investors.

"What a year it's been," CEO John Legere said. "We've been extremely busy."

 

More than 1.6 million of those new customers arrived in the last three months of the 2013 fiscal year, marking the third quarter in a row that T-Mobile added more than 1 million paying users.

But it was also the third quarter in a row that the company lost money: $20 million, this time. That reflects the money T-Mobile is spending to attract new users and expand its network, as well as some of the less-expensive plans it's offering to lure all those new customers.

 

Not surprisingly, Legere and other T-Mobile brass weren't emphasizing that part on Tuesday. Instead, they cited the growth numbers again and again. And they do mark a turnaround from the 256,000 customers T-Mobile lost in 2012.

Under Legere's brash leadership, the company has taken some unconventional tacks to lure business.

 

In January, T-Mobile offered to pay up to $650 towards customers' early termination fees with other carriers if they switch. (Of course, that was a response to AT&T targeting T-Mobile customers with a similar deal).

It rolled out Jump, a program that lets customers upgrade phones twice a year for a small monthly fee, and announced new plans that don't require an annual contract.

 

And it didn't hurt that, last March, T-Mobile became an approved carrier for the iPhone for the first time.

"We changed the way this industry operates and customers responded," Legere said.

 

While acknowledging that the highest number of customer defections came from AT&T, the No.1 carrier in the United States, T-Mobile declined to give more detailed figures.

"We're not trying to be too cute about where the customers are coming from," Legere said. "That's not something we're going to get into anymore. As (mobile carriers) are all getting highly competitive, we're not going to give a further road map of where they're coming from."

 

T-Mobile also expanded its 4G LTE network in 2013. It now covers 209 million people and is in 95 of the top 100 metro areas in the U.S. The company has plans to further expand in 2014, eventually covering more than 250 million potential customers.

 

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/25/tech/mobile/t-mobile-new-customers/index.html?iref=allsearch

[TopWargamer]

You forgot that source! http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/25/tech/mobile/t-mobile-new-customers/

 

Anyways, with all of these new customers, I'm sure eventually they'll earn back the money. Plus, they're improving their network so much!

 

EDIT: Okay, phew, you added in the source. 

[dizmo]

Not surprising. As the addage goes, you have to spend money to make money. Those million clients they added in the last quarter will bring in a lot more than the loss they got.

It's a long term game plan for Verizon.

[juretrn]

You forgot that source! http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/25/tech/mobile/t-mobile-new-customers/

 

Anyways, with all of these new customers, I'm sure eventually they'll earn back the money. Plus, they're improving their network so much!

 

EDIT: Okay, phew, you added in the source. 

Source?

Source!

[LegendKillerRG]

Everyone, join T-Mobile.. Best carrier ever, if you have LTE lols...

[Imaginaerum]

Everyone, join T-Mobile.. Best carrier ever, if you have LTE lols...

If they would get rid of my $200 contract termination fee (it's been 3 weeks now) when I never signed a contract, then I might say they aren't among the scum of all carriers. 

[geogga]

LOL 96 GB

[TopWargamer]

Everyone, join T-Mobile.. Best carrier ever, if you have LTE lols...

96GB...just...wow.

 

Just curious, but how has reception been in your city, and how are their speeds?

[Jaybird]

as a future employer it is natural for a company to take a large hit prior to make big money. if they didnt take a large risk, then there is not a large reward. advertising is a small risk for a small reward. a publicity study is a large risk with large reward. thats how the game is played.

[ACatWithThumbs]

T-mobile sucks as much as all other ISPs.
After everybody is a costumer they will just leave everybody with a crappy connection just like they do in Europe.
 

[PillowSmoke]

You forgot that source! http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/25/tech/mobile/t-mobile-new-customers/

 

Anyways, with all of these new customers, I'm sure eventually they'll earn back the money. Plus, they're improving their network so much!

 

EDIT: Okay, phew, you added in the source. 

 

Yup, I use them. And in my area 4g coverage is kinda good. But OMG when I enter other places it just DERPS.

[PillowSmoke]

Everyone, join T-Mobile.. Best carrier ever, if you have LTE lols...

 

WHAT!?!!?!?!, what do you use? tethering? allot of netflix?

[PillowSmoke]

I kinda like the attitude of that ceo. He's pretty awesome, he's on my top 10 ceo list along with the nvidia ceo.

[sysloc]

Got unlimited on T Mobile myself, and I used only 53GBs in the first month. That's from tethering and downloading and lots of apps. Also HD YouTube and nearly constant high quality Pandora streaming. 4G LTE here in Tucson, AZ USA and only drops to regular 4G in a few spots. Don't have a speedtest saved right now but I tested once on 4G LTE and got 40mb/s down and about 25mb/s up. Waaaaay better than my home internet! (Thanks CenturyLink!)

[JAKEBAB]

not surprising u have to spend money to make money...

[LegendKillerRG]

96GB...just...wow.

Just curious, but how has reception been in your city, and how are their speeds?

I get about 2-3 bars of LTE and usually 1.5MB/s download speed. When I get throttled it goes down to ONLY 1MB/s at 90GB with LTE lols? But when I was at around 80GB usage, I "sometimes" get 4G instead of LTE and 4G was around 500KB/s which is still fast...

WHAT!?!!?!?!, what do you use? tethering? allot of netflix?

Lots of tethering on my iPhone 5(Jailbroken and tether hacked). Most of the usage(70GB) was from videos and the other 30GB was from games and other apps. I play clash of clans a lot and it used about 300MB of my data and speedtest used about 120MB.

[snes]

T-mobile sucks as much as all other ISPs.

After everybody is a costumer they will just leave everybody with a crappy connection just like they do in Europe.

 

 

So true. I just quit my contract that I had with them since late 2001.

 

Them and Vodafone are the most expensive carriers over here and it seems as if they really didn't do much to improve their infrastructure. I'm sure they are milking us so that they can play superhero-tech-rockstars in the USA, which pisses me off to no end.

My phone is paid off, but until the end of this month I had to pay 30€/month for 120 minutes, 200Mb of HSPA (lol, as if) and 0 texts. 0.19€/text and 0.29€/minute after my 120 minutes were used up. That's 17,40€/hour or $23.91/hour and $0.26/text. F CK THAT! T-Mobile can rott in hell for all I care.

[PillowSmoke]

I get about 2-3 bars of LTE and usually 1.5MB/s download speed. When I get throttled it goes down to ONLY 1MB/s at 90GB with LTE lols? But when I was at around 80GB usage, I "sometimes" get 4G instead of LTE and 4G was around 500KB/s which is still fast...

Lots of tethering on my iPhone 5(Jailbroken and tether hacked). Most of the usage(70GB) was from videos and the other 30GB was from games and other apps. I play clash of clans a lot and it used about 300MB of my data and speedtest used about 120MB.

 

OH SNAP! YOU PLAY COC TOO!! AWESOME!

[LegendKillerRG]

OH SNAP! YOU PLAY COC TOO!! AWESOME!

I don't play that much anymore but fool around, what's your clan name? Lols... I'll come there and show you how funny my base is