T-Mobile Q1 revenue down; half a million iPhone 5's sold
Amid turnaround efforts, T-Mobile reported on Tuesday night that its first-quarter revenue dipped by 7 pecent from a year ago, but added more than a half-million customers.
The cellular firm recorded total revenues of $4.68 billion for the quarter, down from $5.03 billion on the same quarter a year ago. Service revenue decreased by just shy of 10 percent to $4 billion but was offset by a bump in equipment revenue. Adjusted earnings totaled $1.2 billion — a 12 percent increase from the previous quarter, but a 7.5 percent drop year-over-year.
In April, T-Mobile said it clawed back 579,000 subscribers during the three-month period, while seeing only a narrowing dip in contract subscribers. The company set this figure in stone, and noted that it ended the quarter with 34 million customers in total.
T-Mobile also said it had sold 500,000 iPhone 5 handsets since its release on April 12. Thanks to its bring-your-own-device (BYOD) program, it's adding approximately 100,000 previously owned iPhones to its network per month.
The company's churn rate stands at 1.9 percent, its lowest rate in about five years.
The fourth-place carrier has been busy in recent months — launching Uncarrier and killing off the traditional cell contracts, adding the iPhone to its array of smartphones, bumping its LTE expansion efforts across the U.S. — while at the same time trying to complete a merger with MetroPCS.
T-Mobile closed its merger with MetroPCS earlier this month, forming T-Mobile US. The new firm will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange ($TMUS), and will have 43 million subscribers.