T-Mobile adds more net postpaid phone subscribers in Q1 than AT&T and Verizon combined

T-Mobile announced its first-quarter results for 2023 on Wednesday and the numbers continue to show that the nation's second-largest wireless provider continues to grow faster than its rivals. For the quarter it added 538,000 net new postpaid phone subscribers. That topped AT&T's 424,000 net additions in this category while Verizon reported a decline of 127,000 net new postpaid phone subscribers. With a postpaid phone churn of .89%, T-Mobile was the only carrier to show a year-over-year improvement in this metric.

Overall, postpaid customer net additions were a robust 1.3 million, more than AT&T and Verizon combined although down 61,000 on an annual basis. Prepaid net customer additions of 26,000 were off 36,000 year-over-year. Prepaid churn, which is typically much higher than postpaid, was 2.76%. Total customer count hit a record high of 114.9 million subscribers.

T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert, talking about the report, said, "T-Mobile’s focused execution against our intentional growth plan delivered best-in-class postpaid and broadband customer and profitability growth in Q1 that gave us confidence to raise our 2023 guidance for customers and profitability. For more than ten years, the Un-carrier has put customers first and we will continue to do just that."

The executive added, "Our unique ability to offer the best network and best value, coupled with moves like Phone Freedom and our new Go5G plans, will only continue to fuel our profitable future growth in this competitive environment."

Last week, T-Mobile announced its new Go5G plans as part of the wireless provider's latest Un-carrier move, "Phone Freedom." The new Go5G plans also give subscribers, whether new or existing, the ability to upgrade to a new phone every two years. T-Mobile also noted that its 5G signal covers 326 million Americans with 275 million covered by T-Mobile's Ultra Capacity 5G which uses the carrier's mid-band spectrum to offer faster 5G data speeds than nationwide service. Those signals should cover 300 million people by the end of the year.

For the quarter, T-Mobile announced Q1 revenue of $19.6 billion versus $20.1 billion for last year's first quarter. Net income for the three-months was $1.94 billion compared to $713 million during the same time period in 2022. That resulted in a jump in earnings per share (basic) to $1.59 from .57 cents last year. The carrier also raised its guidance for the year and now expects to add 5.3 million to 5.7 million net postpaid customer additions, up from the original range of 5 million to 5.5 million.

Despite all of this good news, investors were expecting more and T-Mobile shares are down $5.28 or 3.52% to $144.66 on Friday morning.