T-Mobile US Posts Big Subscriber Gain

T-Mobile began selling the iPhone 5S and 5C from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) on September 20, and although the company did not provide a break-out of iPhone sales, T-Mobile did say it sold 5.6 million smartphones in the third quarter, which includes sales to prepaid branded customers. Smartphone sales accounted for 88% of phone sales in the quarter.

The company reported that it ended the third quarter with more than 45 million customers. T-Mobile added a net 672,000 subscribers in the third quarter, leaving the company in fourth place, based on subscriber numbers, but gaining on Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S). Sprint reported a subscriber total of 54.88 million at the end of third quarter, down from 55.96 million at the end of the 2012 third quarter. Wireless giants Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) with 101.2 million subscribers and AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) with 109.5 million remain well ahead in total wireless subscriber counts, T-Mobile’s new subscriber numbers look damned good. Sequentially, AT&T added 363,000 subscribers in the third quarter and Verizon added 927,000.

The company’s CEO said:

T-Mobile’s Un-carrier approach is resonating with consumers. We added more than 1 million customers and led the industry with 643,000 branded postpaid phone additions because we are fixing the things that drive customers crazy.

A key metric for the new T-Mobile US is its average revenue per user (ARPU). For its branded postpaid customers, ARPU slipped sequentially from $53.60 to $52.20 a month. Branded prepaid ARPU also slipped sequentially, from $35.97 to $35.71.

Rapid adoption of T-Mobile’s lower-cost plans is the reason for the drop in ARPU. The company said this is being offset to some extent by increased spending on high-speed data plans.

The consensus estimates for the fourth quarter call for revenues of $6.73 billion. For the full year, the revenue forecast calls for $25.66 billion.

T-Mobile shares were trading down about 4% Tuesday morning at $27.19, after posting a new 52-week high of $29.48. The 52-week low is $16.01. The consensus target price for the shares was around $27.20 before this report.