T-Mobile second quarter results are out, 50 000 customers loss, but revenue only slightly down

Rumor had it that Deutsche Telekom has put its US branch of T-Mobile on the backburner after it agreed to sell it to AT&T for $39 billion, fueled by the fact that the German telecom giant put T-Mobile USA as "discontinued operations" in its first quarter earnings report.

Now the nation's fourth largest carrier Q2 results are out, and the situation isn't nearly as bad as analysts predicted. A Bloomberg survey of eight analysts who cover T-Mobile revealed an expectation for the carrier to lose 200 000 contract customers on average over the course of the second quarter.

T-Mobile actually lost just 50 000 in total, contract and prepaid, which goes against the saying that Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile aren't doing enough to retain customers who are confused what will happen with T-Mobile in the future, and wary to sign contracts in light of the AT&T merger.

The average revenue per contract customer even climbed slightly, from $52 in Q1, to $53 in the second quarter, while the prepaid revenue was unchanged at $18. Total revenue slightly diminished at $5.1 billion from $5.2 in Q1, due partially to the increased price of a gross customer add from $300 to $320, but the operating margin healthily increased to 28%. Here's the full list of stats below:

SELECTED DATA FOR T-MOBILE USA
										Full
				Q2			Q1			Year			Q4			Q3			Q2
(thousands)				2011			2011			2010			2010			2010			2010
Customers, end of period1				33,585			33,635			33,734			33,734			33,757			33,620
Thereof contract2 customers				25,784			26,065			26,447			26,447			26,698			26,752
Thereof prepaid2				7,801			7,570			7,287			7,287			7,059			6,868
Net customer (losses) / additions				(50)			(99)			(56)			(23)			137			(93)
Minutes of use/contract customer/month2				970			1,020			1,100			1,050			1,080			1,120
Contract churn2, 3				2.40%			2.40%			2.30%			2.50%			2.40%			2.20%
Blended churn3				3.30%			3.40%			3.40%			3.60%			3.40%			3.40%
($)
ARPU (blended)4				46			46			46			46			47			47
ARPU (contract)2, 4				53			52			52			52			52			52
ARPU (prepaid)2, 4				18			18			19			19			19			18
Data ARPU (blended)5				13.60			13.10			11.90			12.80			12.40			11.60
Cost of serving (CCPU)6				23			25			23			24			24			23
Cost per gross add (CPGA)7				320			300			300			290			290			330
($ millions)
Total revenues				5,050			5,161			21,347			5,363			5,350			5,356
Service revenues4				4,620			4,630			18,733			4,694			4,708			4,699
Adjusted OIBDA8				1,277			1,188			5,478			1,342			1,323			1,419
Adjusted OIBDA margin9				28%			26%			29%			29%			28%			30%
Capital expenditures10				688			749			2,819			828			643			682
Note: Amounts may not add due to rounding.

All in all, it seems that T-Mobile is in a decent shape considering all the congressmen and industry analysts chiming in on the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger. CEO Philipp Humm was quick to point out that, while the market is challenging right now, a bright spot is that nearly 30% of T-Mobile's customers are now using 3G or 4G smartphones, which is the highest percentage ever.

via TmoNews & T-Mobile