T-Mobile Lost 50,000 More Subscribers In Q2 2011

NEW YORK — T-Mobile USA continued to lose wireless customers in the second quarter, but did a better job of keeping them than it had during the first three months of the year, when subscribers fled in record numbers.

Still, the No. 4 wireless carrier in the U.S. on Thursday posted a record revenue decline of 6 percent from last year, as it sold fewer phones.

Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG has agreed to sell T-Mobile USA to AT&T Inc. for $39 billion. The deal could close next year, if regulators clear it.

The ailing nature of T-Mobile USA's business is being held up as one reason it should be approved. As the smallest of the four national carriers, Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile USA seems to have a hard time competing, as does No. 3 Sprint Nextel Corp.

Deutsche Telekom has said it's unwilling to invest further in T-Mobile USA, leaving it hamstrung as AT&T and Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. carriers, build faster wireless data networks.

T-Mobile USA lost 50,000 subscribers in the April-to-June period, to end with 33.6 million.

T-Mobile USA lost 281,000 contract subscribers, who are the most lucrative. It was the fourth straight quarter of losses in the category.

The carrier also lost no-contract subscribers, but compensated to some extent by adding 300,000 subscribers through resellers. Such subscribers are the least valuable.

T-Mobile USA is still profitable, but second-quarter net income of $212 million was just more than half of last year's $404 million.

Revenue was $5.05 billion, the lowest figure since 2007. The money it made from phone sales declined by 35 percent to $380 million.

Comments

[loki]

01:46 AM on 08/08/2011

well duh. they are losing customers because most know the ATT deal will go through. Its only time before ATT pays the politicians the right amount of cash to get the deal done.

[cdecisneros]

05:47 PM on 08/07/2011

I had a contract and I waited till the contract was over before I canceled and they still charged my the contract cancelation fee so needless to say I am never going back to T-Mobile.

[loki]

01:47 AM on 08/08/2011

w0w, sounds like they are already merged with ATT. Contact your state AG office. That usually wakes them up on these mistakes.

[Java1959]

03:04 PM on 08/07/2011

Here we are once again arguing about which of the four monopolies are better (soon to be three). When we should really be discussing why they have not been broken up, and why the special deals with hardware manufacturers continue to be allowed to happen.

[omg wtf lol bbq]

12:38 AM on 08/07/2011

I left T-Mobile for Verizon back in June. Now I not only have a phone that works, but it's the phone I wanted in the first place. I might be paying about $40 more a month for the same kind of service, but since it never drops, it's worth it.

[atexasdem]

11:02 PM on 08/06/2011

I'm a long term contract T-mobile customer. I have a wait and see attitude. Because I locked in to T-Mobile many years ago during a great promotional period I have a great plan. I'm hoping my plan will carry over after the merger. That plan I got years ago is why I stay. I do have gripes with T-Mobile especially in rural area coverage. I'm hoping with the merger that issue will be resolved.
Until I see how this all works out, I'll just sit and wait.

[omg wtf lol bbq]

12:35 AM on 08/07/2011

It won't. When SWBell bought out what was left of AT&T several years ago, then allowed it's Cingular cellular unit to take over contracts from the old AT&T, many people were up a creek without a paddle and forced into new, more expensive cell plans. My younger sister was among them.

Then to prove that the company really was evil, they decided to keep the AT&T name.

[Joel Kent Melville]

07:27 PM on 08/06/2011

i have a t-mobile prepaid phone and i love it :D

[loki]

01:51 AM on 08/08/2011

virgin is the best. pay as you go. 10 cents a minute if you do it the right way, no "Other" or extra fed charges that run the bill up, and , if you lose your phone, you get another for free with no insurance cost or hassle. Just email them, they hold your account and turn you phone off. When you get the new phone 2 days later, they turn it on and all you minutes and money is there. Its the greatest thing ever. I can spend $20 a month and all the minutes just roll over forever. But Im not one who is addicted to talking on the phone for hours about nothing or texting everytime I take a step.

[SublimeAntithesis]

11:38 AM on 08/06/2011

T-Mobile blows. I was sent an offer in six months ago to get a free smart phone if I signed a two year contract. Since the smart phone was free and I had been with T-Mobile for about ten years I thought why not. So I go in to the store, but I have to cough up 200.00, which after filling out the paperwork and mailing it in would be refunded to me. I had done a couple of similar deals in th apst with no problem so I was not concerned. Well, about four months went by and I never received my rebate. So I finally called. I was told "I did not qualify" for the rebate as I did not get a new data plan! Huh! I told them I had to get a new data plan as this was my first smart phone and besides the clerk filled out the paper work so if he did not check the New Data plan box it was a mistake. I then told them they could easily verify I had a new data plan as they are my carrier for cyring out loud. However I was told that the rebate department had no way of confirming I had a new plan if the clerk did not check the box and I was out of luck.
Thanks T-Mobile for STEALING 200.00 from me.

[MikeyJaii]

01:27 AM on 08/06/2011

T-Mobile is complete trash. They just got nice phones.

[omg wtf lol bbq]

12:36 AM on 08/07/2011

Nice phones on a network that doesn't work half of the time are just eye candy.

[Onion City]

10:53 PM on 08/05/2011

I would flee too, but I don't wanna pay the $ 200 cancellation fee, at least not now

[SirCoolBreeze]

04:00 PM on 08/05/2011

Boost Mobile. $50 unlimited everything.

[MikeyJaii]

01:26 AM on 08/06/2011

I've got MetroPCS for 40$ a month. But Boost Mobile seems a lot better, probably is a lot better.

[Contact1972]

11:33 PM on 08/07/2011

Whose network does Boost Mobile piggyback on?

[SirCoolBreeze]

07:37 AM on 08/08/2011

Boost Mobile is owned by Sprint and uses the Sprint/Nextel network.

[fatuglynerd]

03:27 PM on 08/05/2011

I was one of the people who left T-Mobile!

US Cellular has great coverage, and much better rates. They also allow you to get a new phone every 10 months without renewing a contract, but still getting the discounted rate.

Also ... all incoming calls are free! Can't beat that.

Another thing I like about them is if your battery is low, you can stop by any US Cellular store and swap out your battery, free of charge.

My monthly charges at T-Mobile started around 70$ and every month seemed to go up just a little bit more. I would call and ask them about the rate hikes and they would blame it on this, that or the other ...

In addition, T-Mobile live mobile support (in store) was awful. Basically anytime you had an issue, they would play with your phone for about half an hour while you wait ... and then just tell you that you need a new one.

I once went in simply asking for a new back to my phone, and they told me I'd have to order a new one. The one I had was supposed to be brand new (or so they said when the sent me the refurbished piece of crap), yet the battery cover was scratched to HELL when I received it.

I'm glad they are failing as a corporation. If you do bad business, you should fail.

Enjoy that!

[Bruce Joseph]

12:47 PM on 08/05/2011

I don't use my cell phone much and have a T-Mobile prepaid plan (1000 minutes/year.) At the end of each year I have minutes left and they roll them over. I love this plan and fear that when AT&T takes them over, this inexpensive option for low-use clients will go away, or go up in price.

[Pedro Miranda]

12:21 PM on 08/05/2011

If the German company gets the huge money, I hope that they use a part of this money to improve the service here in UK. I live in East London and here their service is horrible, even there are a lot antennas from them. We are using smartphones but the service is horrible, backing to GPRS level. Our handsets are useful, sometimes .
I moved to Vectone and for my surprise I knew that this company use T-Mobile service. The service is better than T-Mobile!! And cheaper price! T-Mobile here is a handset seller and offer a wireless service as a gift. In general, the services available from the networks are below to the handsets in a expensive costs. How I wish to a company that offer a WIFI coverage to stay away from the networks signal, my desire grew with Google expanding Google Voice here in UK...

[J0E1]

11:34 AM on 08/05/2011

I just wish everyone who is leaving T-mobile would switch over to sprint to really stick it to the big 2.  Unfortunately I see so many people saying "I'm leaving t-mobile because of at&t and switching to Verizon!"  Really?  You do realize that Verizons plans are just as expensive as at&t and they aren't going down any time soon.  Sprint's phones are as good or better than verizon (htc evo 3d, samsung galaxy phones, google nexus S) and their service is better (most people don't realize that Sprint customers have FREE roaming on Verizon towers so they actually get service in both Sprint and Verizon coverage maps).  The only thing sprint doesn't have right now is the 4G coverage but they have made it clear that they are adopting LTE and their coverage areas are going to explode.

[Sam Salinitis]

11:14 AM on 08/05/2011

no this article is complete lie. t mobile is the cheapest service you can get right now...spare me the metro pcs nonsense....

[fatuglynerd]

03:30 PM on 08/05/2011

No. You're completely wrong.

Cricket is the cheapest service you can get, and then there are about 15 other providers who are cheaper than T-Mobile.

But ok ... whatever you say, boss.

[Sam Salinitis]

01:24 PM on 08/06/2011

maybe for those who have no credit and have to leave 500 deposits...and since you really do not understand cell service....its regionalized....if your public school did not teach you that word = it means where you live....its ok fan boy.....