T-Mobile US experienced strong subscriber growth for the fourth quarter of 2014 based on its preliminary view of customer results. The company demonstrated that customers are responding to its Un-carrier program.
During the fourth quarter, T-Mobile added 2.1 million subscribers, the seventh consecutive quarter that the company recorded more than one million customer additions.
The stock price of T-Mobile climbed nearly 2% to $27.30 per share at the time of this writing around 11:48 A.M. in New York.
2014 is a record breaking year for T-Mobile
In a statement, T-Mobile CEO John Legere said, “While my competitors are hiding behind less valuable connected device subscriber additions and managing profit expectations to the downside, T-Mobile delivered over 2.1 million customers in Q4, while managing the balance between growth and profitability. Needless to say, 2014 was a record breaking year.”
For the full year 2014, T-Mobile added 8.3 million customers, an increase of 89% from the previous year. Legere emphasized that the company attracted customers who were looking for value, simplicity and transparency.
Details of preliminary customer results
T-Mobile reported that its branded postpaid customers continued a strong momentum. During the fourth quarter the company recorded 1.3 million branded postpaid customer addition, a 47% increase from the year-ago quarter.
For the full year, the company added 4.9 million branded postpaid customers. T-Mobile exceeded its revised guidance for branded postpaid net customer additions in the range of 4.3 million to 4.7 million.
T-Mobile said its branded prepaid customers increase by 266,000 in the fourth quarter due to the continued strength of its MetroPCS brand year-over-year.
T-Mobile porting ratio
According to T-Mobile, the strength of its proposition to customers is seen through the postpaid porting ratios. The company said it is attracting customers at an overall ratio 2.1 compared with 1.0 for its competitors in 2014.
T-Mobile emphasized that its postpaid porting ratio in the fourth quarter was 1.4 versus Verizon, 1.8 versus AT&T and 2.2 versus Sprint. The company said its strong porting ratio against competitors continued at a similar level in 2015.
“Porting ratios have been in our favor vs. the competition for seven consecutive quarters and it looks like we will continue to beat everyone on total postpaid phone adds as well. We are not slowing down, and customers know it,” said Legere.
