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The pace at which T-Mobile is gaining its subscribers has increased significantly this quarter in comparison to the previous three months. The company behind the Un-carrier initiative has been making significant subscriber gains in recent times and, according to T-Mobile’s CFO Braxton Carter, T-Mobile is once again adding subscribers at a very strong rate this quarter.
T-Mobile’s porting ratio sat at an impressive 1.53 at the beginning of the quarter but has so far increased to 1.73 throughout the fourth quarter. In fact, other than being up overall, the company’s porting ratio has also increased significantly against every major carrier versus the previous quarter, something the company is pleased with. The cause of this has a lot to do with the company’s newest bundle offers – T-Mobile’s free Netflix offer has proven popular among customers and has even caught the eye of its competitors who have introduced similar offerings. Not only this, but the recent launch of the iPhone X is also proving to be a major gain for the company. Back in the third quarter, Apple launched the iPhone 8 line but the devices were met with a weakened demand, something that led to a lower number of customer gains. With the launch of the iPhone X, though, the theory that many Apple customers were holding off for the launch of the more expensive model has been proven correct, with demand for the device looking very strong. Also, due to T-Mobile being the last major carrier to offer the iPhone, other network providers such as AT&T have much larger iOS subscriber bases, so the carrier is hoping to take advantage of its position in order to entice more subscribers to switch.
Despite betting on the iPhone X, though, T-Mobile isn’t planning any big marketing campaigns surrounding Apple’s new device. Instead, it appears the carrier plans on sticking with its more traditional fourth quarter promotions, while letting the new iPhone X do the talking on its own, without a push to create further hype. For now, the Un-carrier is certainly on track for yet another impressive quarter, but with the current three month period only at the half-way mark, it’ll remain to be seen if the company can continue to add subscribers at its current rates.