T-Mobile US Inc missed fourth-quarter revenue estimates despite adding nearly 1 million wireless subscribers, as competitors increased their holiday season offers to lure customers.
Thanks to discounts on phones, industry-low plan prices, and an edge in 5G, the U.S. wireless carrier has been adding thousands of subscribers.
During the holiday season, AT&T and Verizon increased their offers in order to tap into growing demand after the launch of the latest iPhone.
In the fourth quarter, the carrier added 927,000 postpaid phone subscribers.
The rate of customers who stopped using the company’s services was the highest compared to rivals. AT&T reported a rate of 0.84% for monthly phone subscribers, compared to the rate of 0.89% reported by Verizon.
As offices reopen, demand for phones with video-conferencing and premium plans that supported remote work fades, executives have indicated a cool-down in growth.
Between 5 million and 5.5 million net monthly-bill paying subscribers are expected to be added by T-Mobile in the next two years.
In the fourth quarter, the company earned $1.18 per share on revenue of $20.26 billion, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $1.10 per share profit on revenue of $20.60 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
Analysts are looking for further commentary on the company’s recent data breach that may have exposed 37 million postpaid and prepaid accounts. The company said it may have to pay a lot of costs related to the incident in January.
T-Mobile said adjusted profit after deducting lease revenues is expected to be between $28.7 billion and $29.2 billion, up 10% year over year.
The company’s shares fell in premarket trading on Wednesday.
Eva Mathews, Mark Porter, and Shinjini Ganguli are involved.
