T-Mobile loses net 205K customers, 557K post paid

[bigsnake49]

Total service revenues of $4.4 billion in the second quarter of 2012 compared to $4.4 billion in the first quarter of 2012 and $4.6 billion in the second quarter of 2011, a decrease of 5.2% year-on-year

Branded contract churn of 2.10% in the second quarter of 2012; 40 bps decrease quarter-over-quarter and 50 bps decrease year-on-year

Net customer losses of 205,000 in the second quarter of 2012 compared to 50,000 net customer losses in the second quarter of 2011

Branded contract net customer losses of 557,000 in the second quarter of 2012, compared to 510,000 branded contract net customer losses in the first quarter of 2012 and 536,000 branded contract net customer losses in the second quarter of 2011

Strong branded prepaid net customer additions of 227,000 in the second quarter of 2012 compared to 71,000 branded prepaid net customer losses in the second quarter of 2011 and branded prepaid net customer additions of 249,000 in the first quarter of 2012

 

http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/09/t-mobile-usa-q2-2012-earnings/

 

I wonder how long the FCC and DOJ will object to a Sprint/T-Mobile merger if they keep losing that many customers.

[marioc21]

Total service revenues of $4.4 billion in the second quarter of 2012 compared to $4.4 billion in the first quarter of 2012 and $4.6 billion in the second quarter of 2011, a decrease of 5.2% year-on-year

Branded contract churn of 2.10% in the second quarter of 2012; 40 bps decrease quarter-over-quarter and 50 bps decrease year-on-year

Net customer losses of 205,000 in the second quarter of 2012 compared to 50,000 net customer losses in the second quarter of 2011

Branded contract net customer losses of 557,000 in the second quarter of 2012, compared to 510,000 branded contract net customer losses in the first quarter of 2012 and 536,000 branded contract net customer losses in the second quarter of 2011

Strong branded prepaid net customer additions of 227,000 in the second quarter of 2012 compared to 71,000 branded prepaid net customer losses in the second quarter of 2011 and branded prepaid net customer additions of 249,000 in the first quarter of 2012

 

http://www.engadget....-2012-earnings/

 

I wonder how long the FCC and DOJ will object to a Sprint/T-Mobile merger if they keep losing that many customers.

 

Personally, I don't think the DOJ/FCC would be opposed to a TMo/Sprint merger. If the 3 & 4 national carriers got together it would form a competitive rival to the big 2. The problem with ATT/Tmo was that you would've created two super carriers in VZ and ATT/TMo and then everybody else.

 

The Sprint exec in charge of mergers and acquisitions is leaving. The SEC filing was disclosed yesterday. I remember reading a WSJ article stating that the original Sprint/TMo merger idea fell apart because Sprint was driving too hard a bargain. With a new exec in charge of mergers at Sprint maybe they reopen discussions.

[bigsnake49]

Personally, I don't think the DOJ/FCC would be opposed to a TMo/Sprint merger. If the 3 & 4 national carriers got together it would form a competitive rival to the big 2. The problem with ATT/Tmo was that you would've created two super carriers in VZ and ATT/TMo and then everybody else.

 

The Sprint exec in charge of mergers and acquisitions is leaving. The SEC filing was disclosed yesterday. I remember reading a WSJ article stating that the original Sprint/TMo merger idea fell apart because Sprint was driving too hard a bargain. With a new exec in charge of mergers at Sprint maybe they reopen discussions.

 

Although, I'm all for this merger, I think it will be a bear to carry out. Much easier to integrate Cricket and Metro and or USCC.

[marioc21]

Although, I'm all for this merger, I think it will be a bear to carry out. Much easier to integrate Cricket and Metro and or USCC.

 

It would probably be a very complicated merger. The biggest advantage is that TMo has a postpaid subscriber base. Cricket and Metro are all prepaid. Plus TMo has national spectrum resources where as Cricket and Metro are very limited. USCC? Are they a fully national carrier? I know they serve a lot of the mid-west and more rural areas in general.

[bigsnake49]

It would probably be a very complicated merger. The biggest advantage is that TMo has a postpaid subscriber base. Cricket and Metro are all prepaid. Plus TMo has national spectrum resources where as Cricket and Metro are very limited. USCC? Are they a fully national carrier? I know they serve a lot of the mid-west and more rural areas in general.

 

USCC has about 6M mostly postpaid customers. They are mostly in the midwest and some in the northeast. They are generally rural except for Chicago, St Louis and quite a few smaller markets.

[Paynefanbro]

I am for an AT&T/T-Mobile merger as long as there was a Verizon/Sprint merger. I see it being complicated to mix the HSPA network of T-Mobile with the CDMA network of sprint. Out of the two mergers that I have mentioned before, an unlimited plan with the LTE coverage of Verizon would be a game changer!

[jefbal99]

Here is an interesting thought...

 

The DOJ lets the Verizon/Spectrum Corp deal go through which is followed up by the Verizon/Tmobile spectrum swap. Then Sprint and T-Mobile merge with a nationwide spectrum map that includes PCS and AWS spectrum to rival Verizon, plus the 800Mhz SMR.

 

A portfoilo of 800Mhz SMR, 1900Mhz PCS, 1700/2100Mhz AWS, and the Clearwire 2600Mhz spectrum for urban hotspots, holy shit, that company could roll out whatever they want.

 

5x5 LTE and 1x advanced voice in 800Mhz

Multiple 5x5 or 10x10 LTE carriers in PCS

Multiple 5x5 or 10x10 LTE carriers in AWS

20x20 LTE Advanced carriers in 2600Mhz

 

Holy toledo, think about the speed and coverage that could be available on those devices. Just need to migrate everyone off T-Mobile's GSM infrastructure to refarm the spectrum. That would prolly take a few years, unless the new company wanted to give away phones for free and take the $$$ hit to get everyone on the same tech.

[jefbal99]

I am for an AT&T/T-Mobile merger as long as there was a Verizon/Sprint merger. I see it being complicated to mix the HSPA network of T-Mobile with the CDMA network of sprint. Out of the two mergers that I have mentioned before, an unlimited plan with the LTE coverage of Verizon would be a game changer!

 

I hope Sprint and Verizon don't merge, same for t mobile/at&t. Those would be terrible for consumers, prices would continue to go up and services would never innovate.

[Paynefanbro]

I hope Sprint and Verizon don't merge, same for t mobile/at&t. Those would be terrible for consumers, prices would continue to go up and services would never innovate.

 

I suppose you are correct.

[lynyrd65]

Here is an interesting thought...

 

The DOJ lets the Verizon/Spectrum Corp deal go through which is followed up by the Verizon/Tmobile spectrum swap. Then Sprint and T-Mobile merge with a nationwide spectrum map that includes PCS and AWS spectrum to rival Verizon, plus the 800Mhz SMR.

 

A portfoilo of 800Mhz SMR, 1900Mhz PCS, 1700/2100Mhz AWS, and the Clearwire 2600Mhz spectrum for urban hotspots, holy shit, that company could roll out whatever they want.

 

5x5 LTE and 1x advanced voice in 800Mhz

Multiple 5x5 or 10x10 LTE carriers in PCS

Multiple 5x5 or 10x10 LTE carriers in AWS

20x20 LTE Advanced carriers in 2600Mhz

 

Holy toledo, think about the speed and coverage that could be available on those devices. Just need to migrate everyone off T-Mobile's GSM infrastructure to refarm the spectrum. That would prolly take a few years, unless the new company wanted to give away phones for free and take the $$$ hit to get everyone on the same tech.

 

I see this as unnecessary. With Sprints higher site density they already have the spectrum depth covered with their existing pcs portfolio. The clearwire spectrum can help with urban heavy lifting along with the lightradio small cells. The big game changer is already here, SMR 800.

[jefbal99]

I see this as unnecessary. With Sprints higher site density they already have the spectrum depth covered with their existing pcs portfolio. The clearwire spectrum can help with urban heavy lifting along with the lightradio small cells. The big game changer is already here, SMR 800.

 

With the current results already coming in that the LTE coverage is not quite up to the EVDO coverage, the more PCS spectrum/towers that can be used the better. On top of that, being able to deploy carriers where ever needed due to the additional spectrum could be a game changer in Sprint/TMobile being able to challenge Big Red and Big Blue.

 

Think about when LTE Advanced rolls out with carrier aggregation, all that spectrum would give the combined company the flexibility to do whatever they want.

 

Another possibility would be additional spectrum swaps. Maybe Verizon decides they want to go 700Mhz & AWS only, Sprint/t-mobile can swap AWS for PCS and both companies can build out competing networks in a single spectrum space. This would lead to less complex radios/antennas in phones and better battery life.

[bigsnake49]

I'm with jefbal99. If Sprint can consolidate on PCS and 800, it will be a great thing. Plenty of bandwidth on PCS with 800MHz thrown in for exurban coverage/penetration.

[pyroscott]

Sprint/Nextel/T-Mobile merging is a nice pipe dream, but it would be a nightmare for Sprint. Sprint is just now freeing themselves from Nextel, and they are going to go add a bunch of GSM customers so they can run 2 opposite networks? The FCC would likely let Sprint/Nextel/T-Mobile keep the PCS spectrum and SMR, but you can likely kiss the rest of it goodbye. AT&T and Verizon would probably back a Sprint/Nextel/T-Mobile merger because it would cripple the company for years while opening up the AWS spectrum to them.

 

Sprint needs to use their current strategy to build themselves into a strong carrier, not buy a strong carrier like the duopoly has done. If they can pull off Network Vision, shake their reputation for having terrible data speeds, and continue offering unlimited data at a price lower than Verizon/AT&T offer 2 GB of data, they will siphon customers from every other carrier and build themselves into a powerful carrier. Their willingness to work with MVNOs is going to add customers as well.

[jefbal99]

Sprint/Nextel/T-Mobile merging is a nice pipe dream, but it would be a nightmare for Sprint. Sprint is just now freeing themselves from Nextel, and they are going to go add a bunch of GSM customers so they can run 2 opposite networks? The FCC would likely let Sprint/Nextel/T-Mobile keep the PCS spectrum and SMR, but you can likely kiss the rest of it goodbye. AT&T and Verizon would probably back a Sprint/Nextel/T-Mobile merger because it would cripple the company for years while opening up the AWS spectrum to them.

 

Sprint needs to use their current strategy to build themselves into a strong carrier, not buy a strong carrier like the duopoly has done. If they can pull off Network Vision, shake their reputation for having terrible data speeds, and continue offering unlimited data at a price lower than Verizon/AT&T offer 2 GB of data, they will siphon customers from every other carrier and build themselves into a powerful carrier. Their willingness to work with MVNOs is going to add customers as well.

 

Very good points, my idea has Sprint/tmobile keeping AWS and making a huge cash outlay to replace GSM devices with CDMA devices to free up spectrum ASAP.

[S4GRU]

I don't think I'm for this merger. However, a swapping of AWS for PCS holdings is a juicy and exciting proposition that could be developed with such a merger.

 

Robert via CM9 Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

[WiWavelength]

Very good points, my idea has Sprint/tmobile keeping AWS and making a huge cash outlay to replace GSM devices with CDMA devices to free up spectrum ASAP.

 

Not gonna happen. T-Mobile subs would scream bloody murder and leave in droves. Most of them do not travel internationally or swap phones frequently, but they still love their unlocked handsets and SIM cards to an irrational degree.

 

AJ

[jefbal99]

Not gonna happen. T-Mobile subs would scream bloody murder and leave in droves. Most of them do not travel internationally or swap phones frequently, but they still love their unlocked handsets and SIM cards to an irrational degree.

 

AJ

 

Where would they go, at&t for higher prices and data caps? Verizon would be the only other option and they don't off unlocked handsets and SIM cards. If a user is that tied to an unlocked handset and SIM card, then have fun at at&t.

 

My thoughts were a pipe dream, but it could be amazing...

[WiWavelength]

Where would they go, at&t for higher prices and data caps?

 

Many like the GSM ecosystem more than they dislike AT&T. So, yes, some would go to AT&T. Others would go prepaid to one of the GSM/W-CDMA based BYOP ("bring your own phone") prepaid services (e.g. StraightTalk) that have been springing up lately.

 

AJ

[marioc21]

I do think this reinforces why Sprint had to make the deal for the iphone. T-Mobile is the only major carrier that doesn't have it and they are bleeding customers. When the iphone 5 is released on every carrier but T-Mobile, you will probably see another mass exodus of postpaid customers.

[supert0nes]

Sprint should have no interest in getting in to AWS. In my USCC thread, I realized they eat up a ton of useful spectrum for other companies. I wish they would focus on their 700, 850 coverage, with supplemental 1900 in areas they actually serve, and sell/trade the rest, especially that 1700. Try to get their network to line up more and do it with less antennas.

[bigsnake49]

Once they started refarming their 1900PCS spectrum for HSPA and targeting AWS for LTE, they became less attractive to Sprint. This merger if it ever happened would be executed over many many years. The two would have to be operated independently for a long time.