T-Mobile US Inc. (TMUS) late Monday posted record subscriber growth in the third quarter on the back of aggressive marketing campaigns, but booked wider-than-expected losses due to the cost of integrating its MetroPCS network.
The fourth-largest wireless carrier in the United States has turned around years of subscriber losses with aggressive campaigns and discounts in recent quarters. Market leader Verizon Inc. [Coins2Day-stock symbol=”VZ”, had last week also booked a large rise in subscribers in the quarter, although a 14% increase in profits slightly missed consensus forecasts.
Its German-based parent, Deutsche Telekom AG, has been forced to fall back on a plan “B” to develop the carrier on its own after Sprint’s Japanese owner Softbank pulled out of talks on a merger, while a bid from French-based rival Iliad SA was deemed too low.
In the latest quarter, it added a record 1.4 million postpaid customers who pay for service after use. It now expects to bring in 4.3 million to 4.7 million customers in 2014, up from a prior estimate of 3 million to 3.5 million.
Revenue rose 10% to $7.35 billion, in line with Wall Street forecasts of $7.4 billion.
Service revenues grew 10.6% in the quarter for the carrier, which is expected to lead the industry in growth. Average billings per postpaid user also rose to a record, up 4.2% to $61.59.
The carrier reported a third-quarter loss of 12 cents per share, bigger than a loss of 5 cents per share in the same period a year earlier as it shut down incompatible MetroPCS networks in Boston and Las Vegas.
T-mobile shares rose 0.04 percent to $28 after closing at $27.99 on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Additional reporting by Coins2Day)