Skip to main content

T-Mobile continues to deliver results, profits more than triple during the 4th quarter 2015

In what appears to be a repeating refrain for T-Mobile, the carrier reported amazing results for the most recent quarter. The Un-carrier promotions appear to be working as the firm continues to attract new customers while increasing profits.

T-Mobile reported a net profit of $297 million for the fourth quarter of 2015, which is almost triple the $101 million for the same quarter last year.

Recommended Videos

The carrier killed it on the subscriber side, adding 2.1 million net customers during the fourth quarter, and 8.3 million for the entire year. These numbers include 1.3 million branded postpaid net adds for the fourth quarter and 4.5 million of that category for the full year. T-Mobile’s subscriber base now sits at 63 million.

This marks eleven consecutive quarters of adding more than one million net customers, and the third consecutive month in which the carrier added two million. It also marks the second straight year in which T-Mobile was able to add at least eight million net customers.

Attracting customers is one thing, but keeping them is another. T-Mobile is obviously doing something right here as well because customers are sticking around more than they were in the past. Postpaid phone churn was 1.46 percent during the fourth quarter, which is down from 1.74 percent during the same period last year. The churn rate is the percentage of subscribers that stop using the carrier’s services per month, so the lower the number, the better. T-Mobile also continues to rank high in customer satisfaction, leading J.D. Power’s 2016 U.S. Wireless Customer Care Full-Service Performance Study.

T-Mobile’s success has to be as a result of its ongoing Un-carrier promotions and CEO John Legere’s ability to create a tremendous amount of publicity by bashing the competing carriers. T-Mobile launched Binge On late last year, allowing customers to stream a variety of video services like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go, and more without those services counting towards their data caps. The service has been under scrutiny due to the belief that it could violate Net neutrality rules, but it’s these kind of deals that are attracting customers.

With all this good news, one has to wonder if T-Mobile can continue to keep up this pace. Interestingly enough, the carrier’s outlook for 2016 only shows an increase of 2.4 and 3.4 million postpaid customers, which would be down from the 4.5 million it achieved in 2015.

The firm’s stock price opened much higher in early trading, hitting a high of $38.31, but a sell-off brought it back to the previous day’s level of $36.44 by late morning.

Robert Nazarian
Robert Nazarian became a technology enthusiast when his parents bought him a Radio Shack TRS-80 Color. Now his biggest…
OnePlus makes Apple Watch owners jealous with novel charging cable
Apple owners are having to pay a lot more for the privilage
A OnePlus smartwatch being connected to the POGO pin on the OnePlus 2-in-1 charging cable

Update 07/16: we've now included mention of Nomad's 2-in-1 charger for iPhone and Apple Watch

Look, I get it. Charging cables aren't exactly the sexiest product in the tech world and I'd forgive you for rolling your eyes - but OnePlus has introduced a new cable at a price point which makes it way more accessible than rivals.

Read more
Google Pixel 10 launch date confirmed with multiple devices teased
The Pixel 10 launch is just a few weeks away
The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Pixel 9 Pro, and Pixel 9's screens.

Invites have gone out for the Google Pixel 10 launch event, along with a tease that there will be more than one product announced.

Google will hold its Made by Google event on August 20, with the invite reading "you're invited to an in-person Made by Google show where we'll introduce the latest additions to our Pixel portfolio of devices." The event kicks off at 1pm ET, 10am PT.

Read more
This leaked iPhone 17 Pro color has me excited for the iPhone 17 Pro
A close-up of the cameras on the iPhone 16 Pro.

I've been reporting on technology for almost twenty years, and I vividly recall the early years of the smartphone industry when companies like Nokia pushed the boundaries when it came to smartphone colors. 

Rather than the less exciting neutral colors that have become standard in the industry — gray, white, silver, and gold — Nokia launched phones in bright red, yellow, and other vibrant colors. Yes, there were still the same standardized options, but you also had bright neon colors, such as the yellow Lumia 1020 or the orange Nokia N8. 

Read more