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T-Mobile Outlines LTE Plans
As Earnings Highlight AT&T-Related Defections

T-Mobile has released their fourth quarter earnings, which as expected show that T-Mobile lost 526,000 net subscribers and 802,000 contract plan subscribers. The mass defections were caused by the one-two punch of an AT&T deal consumers didn't like -- and the launch of the iPhone 4S by Sprint. In the third quarter, T-Mobile had added a net 126,000 customers.

More interesting perhaps is T-Mobile's announcement that the company will be using the spectrum acquired from AT&T as part of the deal failure fee to launch LTE in 2013. T-Mobile says they'll be installing new equipment at 37,000 cell sites and refarming spectrum in order to launch LTE in 2013, a tricky proposition given that the spectrum acquired from AT&T is a jigsaw of geographic locations.

"We want to be known for delivering the best value in wireless because of the advanced technology we deliver at an affordable price," T-Mobile CEO Philipp Humm said in a statement. "Over the next two years, we’re prioritizing and investing in initiatives designed to get T-Mobile back to growth in the years ahead — beginning with the transformation of our network."

While AT&T did pay a $4 billion break up fee ($1.4 billion after tax write off), AT&T still won in that the damage done to T-Mobile is massive, not to mention the legal process gleaned AT&T a lot of confidential competitive documents that will allow them to more easily undermine T-Mobile (and Sprint) moving forward. For their part, a T-Mobile that was officially supporting the anti-competitive elimination of themselves has quickly reverted to pesky upstart status, this week fighting against Verizon's cable industry deal.

The big takeaway however is the fact that Deutsche Telekom has decided to stick it out in the U.S. wireless market -- thanks in part to AT&T.
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inteller
Sociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK

inteller

Member

seriously?

They lost 802k contract subscribers? That is HORRIBLE! The breakup fee can't even begin to recoup that loss. What a disasterous result! Stick a fork in them because T-Mobile is done.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: seriously?

said by inteller:

They lost 802k contract subscribers? That is HORRIBLE! The breakup fee can't even begin to recoup that loss. What a disasterous result! Stick a fork in them because T-Mobile is done.

Just by trying to merge with TMO, AT&T came out ahead. From the beginning it was pretty obvious to many that AT&T was going to gain an advantage whether the merger was approved or not. The only one who made out better than AT&T was Verizon, who got stronger without having to lay out the money AT&T did throughout the failed merger process.

ITALIAN926
join:2003-08-16

ITALIAN926 to inteller

Member

to inteller
quote:
The mass defections were caused by the one-two punch of an AT&T deal consumers didn't like -- and t
HAHHAHAHA Where does this guy come up with this stuff?. Consumers didnt like a proposed acquisition and decided to leave Tmobile, based on THAT? They changed carriers based on a POSSIBLE business move?. Maybe once AT&T gobbled them up officially, they may have lost some.

Im sure one or two people left for that reason, but come on.

djdanska
Rudie32
Premium Member
join:2001-04-21
San Diego, CA

djdanska

Premium Member

Re: seriously?

Most people I know with TMobile left for that reason. my friend mike just signed back up. I see more of that ahead.

Jovi
Premium Member
join:2000-02-24
Mount Joy, PA

Jovi to ITALIAN926

Premium Member

to ITALIAN926
said by ITALIAN926:

quote:
The mass defections were caused by the one-two punch of an AT&T deal consumers didn't like -- and t
HAHHAHAHA Where does this guy come up with this stuff?. Consumers didnt like a proposed acquisition and decided to leave Tmobile, based on THAT? They changed carriers based on a POSSIBLE business move?. Maybe once AT&T gobbled them up officially, they may have lost some.

Im sure one or two people left for that reason, but come on.



I left T-mobile because of it.
25139889 (banned)
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH

25139889 (banned) to inteller

Member

to inteller
TMO is done? You clearly need to look at Sprint. They're bleeding customers, a new network that is bound not to get built. Investing in a company that is almost bankrupt. Sprint partnering with a company that had no chance of even getting off the ground and banking on their LTE network. And to top it all off, Sprint is almost bankrupt themselves according to their own staff as they have VERY LITTLE cash due to the iPhone.

Sprint will be done before TMO.
DarnellP
join:2004-10-12
Las Vegas, NV

DarnellP

Member

Re: seriously?

Not really sure what your obsession is with Sprint nor am I sure what Sprint has to do with about an article clearly about t-mobile, but this is yet another swing and miss on your part.
25139889 (banned)
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH

25139889 (banned)

Member

Re: seriously?

it has to do with the first poster saying they're done and dead company when Sprint is far worse than T-Mobile.

And Sprint is a lousy company that should just give up on retail services.

djdanska
Rudie32
Premium Member
join:2001-04-21
San Diego, CA

djdanska

Premium Member

Re: seriously?

To some people AT&T is even worse than sprint. All depends who you talk to.
DarnellP
join:2004-10-12
Las Vegas, NV

DarnellP to 25139889

Member

to 25139889
said by 25139889:

it has to do with the first poster saying they're done and dead company when Sprint is far worse than T-Mobile.

And Sprint is a lousy company that should just give up on retail services.

Ummmm yeah ok...so like I figured whether t-mobile is "done" or not has nothing to do with Sprint, just your curious little obsession. And for the record, Sprint didn't "bleed" customers, they added 161K in Q4. However, you've already clearly demonstrated that you won't let a little thing like facts get in the way of your non-stop bashing.

Snakeoil
Ignore Button. The coward's feature.
Premium Member
join:2000-08-05
united state

Snakeoil to inteller

Premium Member

to inteller
TMO has the best pre-paid plan going. As long as they don't change it, they'll keep me as a customer.

HarleyYac
Lee
Premium Member
join:2001-10-13
Allendale, NJ

HarleyYac

Premium Member

Nice write off!!

$2600000000.00 Who is paying this ?

Tomek
Premium Member
join:2002-01-30
Valley Stream, NY

Tomek

Premium Member

Defection thanks to ATT

Many users defected in fear of ATT merger, I wonder where did these subscribers go, I guess Sprint and MetroPCS, maybe few to verizon. Since they are not tied in new contracts, they are not coming back anytime soon.

inteller
Sociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK

inteller

Member

Re: Defection thanks to ATT

They may have also went to Straight Talk or Simple Mobile.....with the autofill options those companies have its just like being on a contract from a billing perspective.

n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY

n2jtx to Tomek

Member

to Tomek
said by Tomek:

Many users defected in fear of ATT merger, I wonder where did these subscribers go, I guess Sprint and MetroPCS, maybe few to verizon.

While I have not yet technically defected, as my T-Mobile account is still active, I was given an iPhone 4S on Sprint which I now use. My T-Mobile account has been set on forward-all-calls for two months and I have been too lazy to port that number out to my iPhone and shut the T-Mobile account. Considering the number of subs that Sprint gained with the iPhone, I am sure quite a few came from T-Mobile. Sad thing is T-Mobile has the better data network but the iPhone is not supported.
chgo_man99
join:2010-01-01
Sunnyvale, CA

chgo_man99

Member

Re: Defection thanks to ATT

while are you still keeping it active? Are u waiting for T-Mobile to re-farm 3G and unlock your phone to transfer T-Mobile service to your iphone?

delusion ftl
@tmodns.net

delusion ftl to n2jtx

Anon

to n2jtx
you should sell the iphone and buy a better device on tmobile.

tiger72
SexaT duorP
Premium Member
join:2001-03-28
Saint Louis, MO

tiger72

Premium Member

Don't forget..

Don't forget that T-Mobile is agressively refarming their PCS spectrum to offer HSPA+ on. In some areas it's already the case, but in many markets this means that T-Mobile customers with iPhones are now getting 3g on practically empty carriers (ie since most TMO 3g customers are on AWS, most PCS-band HSPA+ cells will practically be dedicated to iPhone users.

And last but not least, with T-Mobile and ATT both deploying LTE on the AWS band, this means that they'll actually be able to have roaming agreements with each other, and share networks if they so choose.

It only took T-Mobile to get pushed into a corner to make a decision that would have saved them a lot of heartache (and money) years ago.

dmeyer6
join:2002-08-14
Austin, TX

dmeyer6

Member

Re: Don't forget..

TMO still has no HSPA in AustinTX on the PCS frequencies. My friends' iPhones here on TMO are still clunking along on EDGE.

tiger72
SexaT duorP
Premium Member
join:2001-03-28
Saint Louis, MO

tiger72

Premium Member

Re: Don't forget..

said by dmeyer6:

TMO still has no HSPA in AustinTX on the PCS frequencies. My friends' iPhones here on TMO are still clunking along on EDGE.

Yeah they're still rolling out said deployment. They only started 7 weeks ago.
bugabuga
join:2004-06-10
Austin, TX

bugabuga to tiger72

Member

to tiger72
Of course the real question should be why they didn't implement HSPA(+) on 1900 as soon as they started to build their 3G service.
This is probably one of the most idiotic decisions ever (unless their primary goal was to force users to buy incompatible handsets and thus having less chance of defecting to ATT or something)

tiger72
SexaT duorP
Premium Member
join:2001-03-28
Saint Louis, MO

tiger72

Premium Member

Re: Don't forget..

said by bugabuga:

Of course the real question should be why they didn't implement HSPA(+) on 1900 as soon as they started to build their 3G service.
This is probably one of the most idiotic decisions ever (unless their primary goal was to force users to buy incompatible handsets and thus having less chance of defecting to ATT or something)

Because all of their customers were already using their relatively small amount of PCS spectrum. The only way to deploy 3g on the PCS band would have been to take away spectrum from their 2g network, which was already heavily loaded. Voice would have degraded. Customers would have seen more dropped calls, and 3g data speeds wouldn't have been particularly great due to them being overloaded.

Spectrum is a hard barrier, and it's extremely well documented that T-Mobile had run out by 2006.
axus
join:2001-06-18
Washington, DC

axus

Member

A billion dollars?

Am I reading that right, they made a billion dollars profit in the fourth quarter? How much of that was from what AT&T paid them? It's easy to forget how much money these companies make.

Also, is this just the U.S. part of T-mobile?

roymustang
Premium Member
join:2002-01-12
Cincinnati, OH

roymustang

Premium Member

One of the few new customers

Guess I went against the trend once the merger was cancelled. Sold my iPhone and went from ATT to T-Mobile last month. Coverage is pretty much the same (actually better when you factor in WiFi calling); but, the price is much better. I'm very happy with the change.

YMMV, of course.
puck0114
join:2005-12-24
Portland, OR

puck0114

Member

Re: One of the few new customers

I did the same. I decided to ditch Sprint because once they bought into the iPhone, they took away a lot of the perks that made them attractive to me in the first place (especially their Premier program that let me upgrade once a year). They still have unlimited data going for them, but that won't last, and their 3G, while available pretty much everywhere, is dial up speed at best. Their 4G is pretty good, but it kills batteries and therefore isn't that useful. TMobile's "4G" is actually faster and doesn't suck my battery dry anywhere near as fast. I did want to wait until the AT&T deal died before pulling the trigger and switching to TMobile, though.

FLengineer
CCNA, CEH, MCSA
Premium Member
join:2007-06-26
Deltona, FL

FLengineer

Premium Member

TMo billing

They also started charging reconnect fees of $20 per line in Sept. They say it was always in the contract but they never charged it. I had four lines on my plan and they charged an $80 reconnect fee. I left them the next day.
slckusr
Premium Member
join:2003-03-17
Greenville, SC

slckusr

Premium Member

Re: TMo billing

Thats okay Verizon charges 15 bucks per line when i fail to pay my bill on my time, I learned to pay my bill on time.
axus
join:2001-06-18
Washington, DC

axus to FLengineer

Member

to FLengineer
I saw that in the report, they said a bunch of revenue came from the reconnect fees. I bet they lose more from those fees than they gain, you can use Verizon or AT&T if you want to get screwed over.

djdanska
Rudie32
Premium Member
join:2001-04-21
San Diego, CA

1 recommendation

djdanska to FLengineer

Premium Member

to FLengineer
said by FLengineer:

They also started charging reconnect fees of $20 per line in Sept. They say it was always in the contract but they never charged it. I had four lines on my plan and they charged an $80 reconnect fee. I left them the next day.

they have been charging that on my line for Years.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT
·Frontier FiberOp..
Asus RT-AC68

BiggA

Premium Member

Poor T-Mo

Their best option was to be merged with AT&T, now they have a crappy network coverage wise, and not much to differentiate themselves from the big two.

If they have the PCS spectrum to do PCS 3G nationwide, then they could pick the iPhone up. They have the advantage of being able to go through Apple, or reimbursing people for unlocked iPhones when they sign a contract (GCI does this).

kamm
join:2001-02-14
Brooklyn, NY

kamm

Member

Re: Poor T-Mo

said by BiggA:

Their best option was to be merged with AT&T, now they have a crappy network coverage wise, and not much to differentiate themselves from the big two.

If they have the PCS spectrum to do PCS 3G nationwide, then they could pick the iPhone up. They have the advantage of being able to go through Apple, or reimbursing people for unlocked iPhones when they sign a contract (GCI does this).

Ahahaha, another clueless armchair exec - TMO's data network is FAR BETTER than AT&T shitcanned data and their overall coverage is much better where they are present.

Other than rednecks in the sticks nobody gives a shit about the missing rural areas - ~80+ percent of the population live in metropolitan areas, TMO is dead right focusing on them.
chgo_man99
join:2010-01-01
Sunnyvale, CA

1 edit

chgo_man99

Member

Re: Poor T-Mo

I live in a town of 50,000, where t-mobile does not own spectrum directly but its partner i-wireless which while it has decent plans, has awful coverage and much worse outdated phone selection (they still had offered Samsung Galaxy I while T-mobile already have had ver 2 for sale!).In my area they only have 2G EDGE which misleadingly market as "fast mobile" while at&t has 3G for over a year. And I am not in total hillbilly redneck wood-sticks. IBM opened new data center here a little while ago. And soon US Cellular will lunch here 4G LTE and Verizon has lunched already in few other towns.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA to kamm

Premium Member

to kamm
Oh yeah, get 5 minutes off the highway and they have GRPS. Great. AT&T is still plowing ahead with HSPA+. And the places AT&T has EDGE, most of them don't have T-Mo service at all.
nycityny
Premium Member
join:2005-08-09
New York, NY

nycityny

Premium Member

I'm sticking with T-Mobile with a new two-year contract

I've been with T-Mobile since 2004 and out of contract since 2005 (they had one year contracts back then).

T-Mobile had a one day special on Feb 11 where all their 4G phones were free with a 2 year contract so I signed up.

I had been wanting to go to Verizon which has better coverage in the cities where I spend the most time (LA and NY). I was waiting to see the Droid 4 as I only like phones with slide out keyboards. It came out on Feb 10 and is kind of big and clunky as are all of Verizon's 4G/LTE phones.

So I got the MyTouch 4G Slide from T-Mobile which is sleek and comfortable and has comparable specs (both have 1.2 Ghz dual core processors and 8MB cameras). And the plans on T-Mobile are much much less expensive than Verizon. This new phone even worked in my building's elevator going up to the 15th floor which is something I thought only Verizon phones could do.

Also, T-Mobile phones work outside the USA and you can call back home to the US for free using the phone with a strong wi-fi signal. Verizon can't do that.

So I'm satisfied to stick with T-Mobile and glad that the merger failed.

delusion ftl
@tmodns.net

delusion ftl

Anon

Re: I'm sticking with T-Mobile with a new two-year contract

Not only that but you got a device that it among the best in the industry for cell phone cameras. The Motorola device cameras are only average.

I know you mentioned wifi calling but don't underestimate it. It will work in so many places where no carrier has signal, like deep in the bowels of a hospital, parking garages, sub basements and so on.

midwesttech
@insightbb.com

midwesttech

Anon

T-Mobile has been losing customers for a while..

T-Mobile has been on a slippery slope for quite sometime... so for this article to state that the customer defections were because of the AT&T-Mobile merger are unfounded. Can you post facts, like actual recordings of conversations of customers leaving? I would say based on Verizon and AT&T's financial results from 4th QTR, the customers that left only went to those two companies..so while I will agree some customers may have went to Verizon to escape the possible merger...any respectable analyst can say based on their past performance..the customer losses were T-Mobile's doing..

DadCooks
Premium Member
join:2005-02-28
Kennewick, WA

DadCooks

Premium Member

This Is A Plan To Fail

The only plan that T-Mobile should be doing is how they are going to get the iPhone and iPad so we can get competent company support for our devices and OS (i.e. Apple).

Android devices are a PITA and worthless since T-Mobile orphans android devices (i.e., no OS upgrades) after 6-months, at best.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK

KrK

Premium Member

Re: This Is A Plan To Fail

Root them then, and remove T-Mobile's junk.

No problem there.

fuziwuzi
Not born yesterday
Premium Member
join:2005-07-01
Palm Springs, CA
Hitron EN2251
Nest H2D

fuziwuzi to DadCooks

Premium Member

to DadCooks
said by DadCooks:

The only plan that T-Mobile should be doing is how they are going to get the iPhone and iPad so we can get competent company support for our devices and OS (i.e. Apple).

Android devices are a PITA and worthless since T-Mobile orphans android devices (i.e., no OS upgrades) after 6-months, at best.

Bullsh*t. Even the hoary old original MyTouch 3G was upgraded to Froyo. The phones that didn't get updated were those from Samsung and that was Samsung's fault, they didn't update them on ANY carrier.
fuziwuzi

fuziwuzi

Premium Member

Smart...

T-Mobile may end up being the smartest of the lot. By waiting, they're going to have the best network of all. They will be canning the 2G data, moving HSPA+ to the formerly 2G frequencies, then deploying 74Mb+ LTE on the current HSPA+ frequencies. This will make even iPhones and other AT&T/International phones be able to obtain HSPA+ speeds on T-Mobile, as well as support LTE on AT&T and European frequencies. Smart, T-Mobile, very smart.

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