T-Mobile adds 325,000 subs, posts weaker revenue

T-Mobile USA reported lower net income and subscriber additions along with lower service revenues, which the carrier blamed in part on lower ARPU customers. T-Mobile, a unit of Germany's Deutsche Telekom, posted net income of $425 million, up from $322 million in the first quarter, but down from $452 million in the year-ago quarter. Deutsche Telekom's net income rose to $750 million, up from $566 million in the second quarter of 2008.

[1]Revenues: T-Mobile's total revenues were $5.34 billion, down from $5.4 billion in the first quarter and $5.47 billion in last year's second quarter. Service revenues in the quarter were $4.77 billion, flat from the first quarter and down from $4.85 billion in the year-ago quarter. The carrier said lower voice revenues were offset by data revenue growth.

Net additions: The carrier's subscriber growth slowed considerably in the quarter. T-Mobile had 325,000 net subscriber additions in the quarter, down from 415,000 in the first quarter and 668,000 in the second quarter of 2008. The company said the decrease was due primarily to higher contract churn. Strikingly, postpaid net additions made up only 17 percent of customer growth in the second quarter, compared to 39 percent in the first quarter of 2009 and 80 percent in the second quarter of 2008. Prepaid net customer additions, including wholesale customers, were 268,000 in the quarter, up from 255,000 in the first quarter, and up from 143,000 in the year-ago quarter.

Churn: Contract churn in the quarter was 2.2 percent, down from 2.3 percent in the first quarter but up from 1.9 percent in the year-ago quarter.

ARPU: Blended ARPU was $48 in the quarter, flat from the first quarter but down from $52 in the second quarter of last year. Total data services revenue was $990 million, representing 20.8 percent of blended ARPU, or $9.90 per customer. That figure was up from 19.6 percent of blended ARPU, or $9.40 per customer, in the first quarter, and up from 16.6 percent of blended ARPU, or $8.60 per customer, in the second quarter of 2008. Data services revenue increased 6 percent from the first quarter and 23 percent on a year-over-year basis.

For more:
- see this release [2]
- see this Bloomberg article [3]

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