5G leader T-Mobile had a better than expected third-quarter

T-Mobile released its third-quarter earnings report yesterday and during the three months from July through September, the nation's largest carrier said that it added 1.3 million net postpaid customers. That is the best in the industry, according to T-Mobile, and included 673,000 postpaid phone net additions. For the year to date, the wireless provider has added 2.1 million net new phone customers, up 50% year-over-year.

Net new postpaid accounts were an industry best 268,000, and Services revenue, at $14.7 billion, was up 4% on an annual basis. Postpaid services revenue of $10.8 billion was up 6% year-over-year, also an industry best. Overall revenue amounted to $19.62 billion, shy of the $20.19 billion forecast by Wall Street analysts.

Including higher merger-related costs tied to the acquisition of Sprint, net income was $691 million, down 44.9% from the $1.25 billion earned during the same quarter last year. Diluted earnings per share came in at 55 cents versus last year's $1.01. The report might have come in lower than last year but topped Wall Street expectations calling for the company to report earnings per share of 48 cents.

As far as the status of T-Mobile's 5G services is concerned, the low-band 600MHz service, which features signals that travel far and can penetrate structures, now covers 308 million people and 1.7 million square miles. Known as Extended Range 5G, it is the most available 5G network in the world with download data speeds of 350Mbps peaking at 1Gbps. The mid-band Ultra Capacity 5G has the characteristics of mid-band spectrum covering 190 million people delivering download data speeds of 400Mbps.

According to third-party firms that rank wireless carriers' 5G signals in the U.S., T-Mobile delivers the "fastest average speeds, broadest coverage, and most reliable 5G." Mike Sievert, T-Mobile's CEO, said, "Another quarter of amazing results shows that customers love T-Mobile’s unique combination of the best value, best network, and best experience."

The executive continued, "With our Magenta business firing on all cylinders and our Sprint integration ahead of schedule, we are well positioned for the future — and poised to continue winning with assets and a formula for growth that is differentiated from the other wireless players. We just keep exceeding our own targets on growth, profit and synergies — and we have no plans to slow down now."

The carrier is working to finish the migration of Sprint customers to T-Mobile. 90% of Sprint's traffic is now carried on T-Mobile's network, and 53% of Sprint customers have been fully transitioned to the T-Mobile network. And for the third consecutive quarter, T-Mobile has raised its guidance to investors.

For all of 2021, T-Mobile now expects to report postpaid net customer additions between 5.1 million and 5.3 million, up from prior guidance of 5.0 million to 5.3 million. Costs from the merger with Sprint are now forecast to fall between a range between $2.8 billion and $3 billion before taxes.

T-Mobile shares soared $6.29 this morning (5.44%) to $122.10.