T-Mobile sets a company record for new postpaid accounts during Q2

T-Mobile, the nation's second-largest wireless provider and still its most innovative and influential, released its second-quarter earnings this morning. While the bottom line showed red ink (a loss) to the tune of $108 million or 9 cents a share, the figures had been impacted by costs of $1.9 billion or $1.52 per share (after taxes) related to mergers and acquisitions. Taking those expenses out of the picture resulted in the company earning $1.43 per share during the period.

The adjusted $1.43 topped Wall Street expectations of 41 cents a share estimated by 11 analysts. The company also reported postpaid phone net customer additions of 723,000 and for the first time, T-Mobile had lower churn in that category than Verizon. Churn, usually expressed as a percentage, measures the number of subscribers that leave one carrier to sign up with another.

The carrier also announced that during the second quarter it added 380,000 net new postpaid accounts, the largest number in the industry and a record for any quarter in T-Mobile history. Those net new accounts helped add 1.7 million postpaid net customer additions which were more than AT&T and Verizon combined. It also was the best second quarter for this metric in T-Mobile history.

T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said, "Our relentless focus on putting customers first delivered yet another outstanding quarter for T-Mobile with industry-leading postpaid and broadband customer growth, including our highest ever postpaid account adds in company history. This momentum fueled our growth strategy and allowed us to raise guidance across the board yet again -- further proof that our commitment to addressing customer pain points in this challenging macro-economic environment is working."

During the second quarter, T-Mobile generated revenue of $19.7 billion, falling short of the $20.16 billion estimated by 10 Wall Street analysts. Speaking of the stock market, investors loved the report as they have sent the shares up $5.17 or 3.86% to $139.08. The 52 week-high is $146.92 and the 52-week low is 101.51.

As of the end of the quarter, T-Mobile's 600MHz low-band 5G signal covered 97% of the U.S. population, or 320 million people. The carrier's mid-band Ultra Capacity 5G now reaches 87% of T-Mobile customers which works out to 235 million people. This mid-band service uses the 2.5GHz mid-band spectrum acquired in the Sprint acquisition and delivers an average download data speed of  400Mbps with peak speeds reaching 1Gbps.