As the company seeks to convince regulators a merger with Sprint wouldn’t harm consumers, T-Mobile on Wednesday reported 1.6 million new wireless customers in the three months through June, including what the firm says is an industry-leading 686,000 additions of users who pay monthly for services.
Total revenue at the Bellevue, Wash.-based carrier increased 4 percent to $10.6 billion, while net income rose 35 percent to $782 million.
“T-Mobile just recorded its best Q2 in company history,” CEO John Legere said in a statement
. “That means 21 quarters with over one million net adds, record-high service revenues, industry-leading postpaid phone net additions, and record low postpaid phone churn.”
Executives at Sprint and T-Mobile have defended the transaction, telling regulators and lawmakers that the deal would allow the two companies to better compete in both pricing and service against larger competitors Verizon and AT&T.
The transaction, the companies say, would also allow the two firms to launch the nation’s most robust fifth-generation wireless network. T-Mobile aims to launch its 5G network in 30 cities in 2018, then nationwide in 2020. The company earlier this week announced a $3.5 billion deal with Nokia to supply equipment for its faster wireless service.
Legere said the company has “a number of steps remaining in the regulatory approval process,” but was optimistic that the federal government would allow the transaction to proceed.
T-Mobile has faced particular scrutiny on the merger, given the company’s reputation for upending typical pricing models in the wireless phone industry. The firm is known for its 2013 “Un-carrier” campaign, which offered phones without the standard two-year contracts and streamlined plans to include data and wireless service for a single, flat fee.
Industry experts say T-Mobile’s more affordable service plans have put pressure on Verizon and AT&T to also lower their costs. During a Senate hearing on the transaction earlier this year, lawmakers questioned whether combining T-Mobile and Sprint, the third- and fourth-largest wireless providers respectively, would ultimately raise costs for consumers.
“Four competitors is not very many, given all of the public use of cell phones, but over the last few years, we’ve still seen vigorous competition,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said at the hearing. “Most of this competition has been driven by the maverick behavior of T-Mobile and Sprint. Will that competitive energy remain when the lowest-cost provider is gone?”
Sprint earlier on Wednesday said it had added 87,000 new postpaid subscribers in the quarter that ended on June 30.
