T-Mobile says it will score more new customers this year than previously expected

Following the release of solid second-quarter results, T-Mobile said it expects to acquire more new customers during the course of 2018 than it previously expected. Specifically, the company said it now expects to gain branded postpaid net customer additions of between 3 million and 3.6 million—figures up from the 2.6 million to 3.3 million guidance that the company released earlier this year.

And perhaps driving those expectations, T-Mobile executives confirmed that the carrier will make an “uncarrier” announcement on Aug. 15. T-Mobile has worked to draw attention to its “uncarrier” announcements, and over the past several years the carrier has made roughly a dozen such announcements including free international roaming, free Netflix services and a customer-reward program.

T-Mobile executives didn’t offer any details about the carrier’s next “uncarrier” announcement.

Here are some of the topics T-Mobile covered in the release of its earnings.

Upcoming millimeter wave auctions: “We have material interest in participating in those auctions,” say CTO Neville Ray, adding that T-Mobile is interested in deploying 5G “across all bands” including potentially the CBRS and C Band, when that spectrum is released by the FCC. However, company executives confirmed T-Mobile does not plan to enter a joint bidding deal with Sprint.

Pending Layer3 launch: T-Mobile announced its purchase of Layer3 TV late last year, and company executives reiterated that T-Mobile will launch a service based on the acquisition sometime this year.

“This is a market … that needs to be ‘uncarriered,’” said T-Mobile’s Mike Sievert of the TV industry. “You’re going to see a lot of firsts in that product.”

Proposed merger with Sprint: T-Mobile’s executives said they remain confident that the company will obtain regulatory approval to merge with Sprint. “We are optimistic and confident that regulators will recognize the significant pro-competitive benefits of this combination,” CEO John Legere said during the company’s quarterly conference call with analysts.

However, company executives didn’t offer any new insights into how regulators are reacting to the proposal or when it might be approved.

Customers: T-Mobile reported branded postpaid phone net customer additions of 686,000 during the quarter—a figure higher than most analyst expectations and well beyond what T-Mobile’s rivals reported during the second quarter.

Interestingly, T-Mobile also reported the addition of 331,000 other devices in the quarter, which the company primarily attributed to sales of the Apple Watch.

As for prepaid, T-Mobile reported branded prepaid net customer additions of 91,000 during the quarter.

600 MHz buildout: At the end of the second quarter, T-Mobile said its 600 MHz spectrum covered a total of 328 million POPs and that it had deployed the spectrum in 950 cities and towns in 33 states.

Network: T-Mobile said that its carrier aggregation technology is live across 900 markets, and that it has deployed 4x4 MIMO in over 500 markets and 256 QAM in nearly 1,000 markets.

Financials: T-Mobile’s second-quarter earnings beat analysts’ estimates, and the company’s revenues reached $10.6 billion, meeting analyst projections.

Capex: The carrier’s capex reached $1.63 billion during the quarter, and T-Mobile said that it expects to hit the high end of its 2018 capex guidance of $4.9 to $5.3 billion.