T-Mobile US cracks 30m, mum on Sprint rumor

T-Mobile's US division today reported a milestone first quarter of 2008. The communications company says that its first results of the new year added 981,000 wireless subscribers to its overall pool, giving the company more than 30 million subscribers for the first time. Churn, or the number of customers lost during the period, was flat year-over-year and dropped slightly for customers on contracts from 1.9 percent in early 2007 to 1.7 percent in the same time span this year.

The company also highlighted the amount of messaging traffic passing between its customers, with a total of 33 billion messages sent in the three-month window versus 24 billion a year earlier.

T-Mobile is currently the fourth-largest cellular provider in the US after its most recent gains, with AT&T leading at over 71 million users and Verizon nearing this figure with just over 67 million. Sprint will publish its latest quarterly results next week but held almost 54 million cellphone customers by the end of last year.

During a conference call to discuss the results, T-Mobile declined to "nourish" rumors of a takeover of Sprint, which if completed would give T-Mobile a commanding lead in subscribers over AT&T. Parent company Deutsche Telekom will only make acquisitions of any company when they make financial sense, according to officials.

In addition to its quarterly results, T-Mobile has also observed that it now tops the J.D. Power rankings for wireless retail sales, including the quality of the staff's treatment of customers as well as the layout of the stores themselves and their ability to honor promises made for phone supplies and discounts.

T-Mobile has strong expectations for the next quarter that are fueled in part by the launch of its 3G network, which is available first in New York City but should cover between 20 and 25 key cities by the end of the year and will help close a technology gap between itself and the top three providers, which already support varying forms of the faster wireless Internet access.

Filed under: industry
Other story tags: AT&T, Verizon, sprint, T-Mobile