T-Mobile’s ongoing Uncarrier strategy has paid off once again as the carrier added 643,000 postpaid customers to its roster in the third quarter. Any gains are welcomed when you consider the company lost 492,000 customers in the year-ago period.
T-Mobile had an average revenue per use (ARPU) of $52.20 compared to $42.78 during the same time period a year ago. The figures don’t look that great compared to last quarter but that’s because those numbers were a bit artificially inflated due to the MetroPCS takeover.
CEO John Legere has done an admirable job in turning around the struggling wireless provider. After countless quarters of customer loss, his Uncarrier strategy has paid off with an influx of new customers over the past few quarters. That’s allowed the company to adjust their 2013 outlook from 1 to 1.2 million new postpaid customers to 1.6 to 1.8 million.
There’s still much to be done, however, as the increase in subscribers has yet to turn a profit. T-Mobile posted a net loss of $36 million on $6.69 billion in revenue during the quarter but at the current rate, things should be looking up in no time.
In their first quarter carrying an iPhone at launch, T-Mobile said they accounted for 15 percent of the 5.6 million device sales in the quarter. Those numbers would have been even higher, according to CMO Michael Sievert, had supplies not run short.
