More T-Mobile Subscribers Flee

NEW YORK — Subscribers on contract-based cell phone plans hung up on T-Mobile USA in record numbers in the fourth quarter, as it continues to lose the battle against larger carriers.

T-Mobile, the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the U.S., on Friday said it lost 318,000 subscribers on contract-based plans in the October to December period.

The three larger carriers – AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. – added subscribers under contract in the period. For Sprint, it was a reversal of many years of losses.

T-Mobile said the decline was due to competition and to revised credit standards for customers.

T-Mobile compensated by selling wholesale access to its network to resellers, which meant that overall, it lost only 23,000 subscribers in the quarter. But wholesale subscribers bring far less revenue.

T-Mobile USA's new CEO, Philipp Humm, has orders from German parent company Deutsche Telekom AG to stem the loss of subscribers and increase revenue by 2014.

The percentage of contract-based subscribers leaving T-Mobile every month, a measure known as "churn," was 2.5 percent in the quarter, about the same as a year ago but higher than in previous quarters of 2010.

A month ago, Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann said that even a churn rate of 2.3 percent is "just not acceptable," and the goal is to reduce it to 1.8 percent by next year. That would bring T-Mobile more in line with competitors – Verizon Wireless' churn rate is 1 percent.

Including prepaid subscribers, churn was 3.6 percent at T-Mobile, the highest figure in at least seven years. It ended the quarter with 33.73 million subscribers.

T-Mobile's fourth-quarter revenue declined 1 percent from a year ago to $5.36 billion. The quarter's net income fell 12 percent to $268 million versus a year ago and was the lowest quarterly profit in four years.

Comments

[MarcelS81]

03:00 PM on 03/01/2011

Two of the big 4 carriers sorta cheated if u think about it: att and cingular first merged combining their resources/ cust base, then nextel and sprint merged as well. T-Mobile mightve been second place right now out of the original 6!! Lol

[THATSWHATUGET]

10:00 AM on 03/01/2011

WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE KNOWN TO MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Whoozthaboss]

06:22 PM on 02/28/2011

I used to have T Mobile...... ....... When i was in HIGH SCHOOL. I've since grown up and gotten with a real carrier... Verizon. Sure, my bill is relatively high, but I have the best phone on the market and great service.

[whochick]

05:15 PM on 02/28/2011

If they actually had any service, this might not happen. I just canceled my T-Mobile account to get something more dependable. It's a shame you can't use your cell at one's own home.

[flintrat]

08:44 AM on 02/28/2011

I have been with Tmo since they were VoiceStream. We have 4 Android phones with tons of mins and unlimited data for $170 per month. I've never had an issue that Tmo couldn't correct. For a while, we had 4 iphones on the Tmo network, and YES, the Tmo techs will troubleshoot and support the iphone on their network. As far as phones, they have a fantastic selection - and their 4G network is amazing.

[Danek Greori]

07:35 AM on 02/28/2011

I've been with T-mobile for almost 8 years now, and I love it. I've always had an awesome phone, and awesome plan, reasonable rates and I get pretty decent coverage. On top of all that, they have fairly good Customer Service too. Whenever I call, it's always a fluent English speaker, and someone who actually lives in the United States.

I suppose other carriers might be good if you're looking to sell your soul to Apple, or shovel out ridiculous sums of money for a slightly improved iPhone/Blackberry/etc... every few months; but in my experience, T-Mobile has been an exceptionally good provider.

[bluestarmother]

06:50 AM on 02/28/2011

TMobile does not respect the military. They do not follow the law of the Sevice Members Relief Act. My son is in Afghanistan and they have no service there. When asked to have his account put into military suspension, they claimed there was no such thing as the Service Members Relief Act. Took much time and effort to finally get this resolved after they tried to turn over to collections for service he was not even using.

[Ed Greshko]

04:19 AM on 03/01/2011

That's interesting. My friend has TMobile in AZ. He is Vietnam Vet and all he had to do was send him a copy of his discharge papers and they have him a blanket discount.

[olympia333]

02:40 AM on 02/28/2011

OK, I've got to put my two cents in: T-Mobile may not be marketing itself as well as the other providers. They missed out on the iphone and blackberry torch, but they have great android phones. I've been with T-Mobile USA for 10+ years and have been very happy with coverage and costumer service. Whenever I call, I speak with someone who is knowledgeable, tech savy and they actual solve my issue. For 70$ per month I have unlimited everything and get great coverage here in LA, NYC, DC, Chicago, Austin, New Orleans, Rome, Buenos Aires, Rio, London etc... Recently I compared Verizon & AT&T phones, cost and coverage to T-Mobiles and I have to say T-Mobile wins. T-Mobile's HSPA+ network blows other 3G wireless out of the water. Their new Samsung Galaxy S 4G is a great phone. I'm sticking with T-Mobile, saving 600$ per year, compared to Verizon & AT&T, and getting a great new android phone.

[athenalong]

06:06 AM on 02/28/2011

You can add two cents more...

10 years of uninterrupted T-mo service, customer service has been mostly painless, worked well internationally, data stream rates are excellent (I often use my phone as a hotspot), and the Galaxy is a pretty good phone (first android for me).

And believe you me... if I could have what I have for the same price or better elsewhere, I would have jumped ship a while ago.

I am brand loyal, but not to the point of being foolish.

[badmoon]

01:45 AM on 02/28/2011

Tmobile is priced lower than att and verizon and sprint. But their phones are mediocre. Ill be leaving soon if i cant get a descent phone soon.

[Les Burns]

08:04 AM on 02/28/2011

What phone are you using? Their Android phones are the truth. I had my G1 since it came out and I had NO issues with it. I am about to get the G2. Get and Android device! I never had any problems with Tmobile.

[badmoon]

11:29 AM on 02/28/2011

I had the G1 when it first came out. The battery was a big issue. Had to charge it at least twice a day. Another problem was wifi. Always dropped. Then got an iPhone. Not even close. I just recently got the myTouch 4G. Its ok. My issues with that again is battery. It can hold a full day, but barely. Its a bit heavy. Every time i drop it (twice so far) the cover comes off and the battery comes out. Tmobile as a service is good. The phones they carry are not as good as the other carriers. Eg, would have loved to have the HTC incredible.

Im waiting for the Android 3.0 (Honeycomb). Hopefully, it will raise the experience higher.

[Jeff Lassiter]

11:50 PM on 02/27/2011

I had T-Mobile until September of last year. I was on heir 'loyalty' plan, because I had been with them since 2002. It was supposed to be $50 a month, but then they charged $15 a month for unlimited texts, plus taxes, 'fees' etc. that my bill went almost to $90 every month! And to change to a plan that would include the text messages, they wanted to charge me $35. So much for loyalty! I had so many problems with customer service and mysterious charges showing up on my bill almost every month that I just couldn't take it anymore. I switched to MetroPCS in September and have had no problems have better coverage and more features, for half what I was paying before. I will dance a little jig of TMobile goes silent...

[Toka248]

01:10 AM on 02/28/2011

Ya umm.. I thought you were gonna say you went to Verizon and you'd have had credibility. You're on MetroPCS, which is great if you don't leave town. But the phones are behind, and I guess if you don't travel at all, it would work. Otherwise, I will ride my T-Mobile train all the way.

[Jeff Lassiter]

01:12 PM on 02/28/2011

Ride it baby...I went to Iowa for Christmas, and had clearer service with my Metro phone than I ever did with my TMobile phones. I went to California last week and had no problems. Same for Arizona, Texas and even West Virginia. But nice try acting all superior. It's just a phone company, and you're with one that's failing. And you're probably paying way more than me...seems silly.

[parlimentMike]

09:25 PM on 02/27/2011

I don't understand why making account adjustments must be so difficult with every vendor. I've been through Sprint, At&t, who screwed up Cingular for me, and T-mobile and my friends aren't happy with Verizon. A company that can get the customer service right might gain a huge market advantage. Customers should be able to accomplish administrative transactions in under 30 minutes, but one rarely encounters a competent customer service associate on their first two tries.

Perhaps we should move to the European approach where the communications backbone is open, and customers can replace their own access chips. As with our medical care, too much money is spent keeping people in captured customer relationships to drive profits, relative to the money spent on delivering service.

[FordUSA]

09:11 PM on 02/27/2011

Tmobile will punish you if you call into the call center to many times. I had issues with my account and Samsung Behold 2, upgrade issues, and noticed in the past 3 months my calls being routed out of the USA to a foreign call center which has a long wait time....... Spoke to some friendly Tmobile Reps in the USA that told me only prepaid gets routed overseas, however they said if you call in a lot to Tmobile that did will FLAG your account, after hearing this come from a couple of reps mouth twice I call Executive Relations they confirmed: If a customer calls Tmobile Customer Service the account is flagged and you are going to be transferred to a special QUE (she put it), so if anyone notices their account being transferred overseas or long hold time this is the reason. She also stated that only way off the list is for you not to call in to much. I left Verizon for this Nice. I am writing a letter to the PUC in California and President of Tmobile. The Nice Lady that told me about this and refused to take me off the list is Stephanie from Executive Relations So a word of advise to my fellow Samsung Behold Customer you have been warned....

[RedBirdy]

08:46 PM on 02/27/2011

I've had tmobile for years and I'm so sick of them. the low bill kept me around... but their phones are way behind. and now, the bill isn't so low. they told me i qualify for a ''loyalty plan'' which has unlimited everything... only problem is my bill is more than it used to be! ugh! i also love my sim card... but i'm willing to bail. eff the sim card! Get with it tmobile!

[Toka248]

01:08 AM on 02/28/2011

The G2 isn't behind whatsoever..

[KelaMa]

07:12 PM on 02/27/2011

I'm gonna "churn" next. They drop calls all the time but those calls never show up on the bill as dropped so that customer service people say there isn't a problem. I also get messages late--sometimes by days. As for customer service, I have variously been told to turn my phone off and on, remove and replace the sim card, or remove and replace the battery, all of which are useless, time consuming, and shouldn't be part of normal operations.

[HBHB]

07:02 PM on 02/27/2011

I've been through at&t, verizon and sprint. Once I went to t-mobile I stayed put. By far the best support. Equal, if not better service. Plus I just signed up for Unlimited data along with my regular phone service for $70. Can any of the others come close to that? Nope.

[ANY THING TOO ADD]

09:16 PM on 02/27/2011

I agree I love T-Mobile.. I have the exact same plan. 70 Unliminted EVERYTHING.. including Text Messages, and Minutes and I am sorry At&t can't beat that while they continue to steal and be suide by their customers, and Verizon is weigh over PRICED.... and I can use my phone to get on the internet via laptop without any extra cost and gadget..

T-MOBILE hands down for me.

[drumz]

03:34 PM on 02/28/2011

Cosign