On Wednesday, T-Mobile announced that it gained more monthly bill paying telephone subscribers than expected in the first quarter, owing to an increase in demand for affordable telecommunications services as people work from home amid coronavirus lockdowns.
The company said it was confident that it would benefit strongly from the pandemic as it aims to attract rival consumers with its lower-cost services.
However, like many of its rivals, T-Mobile did not offer a full-year forecast, citing uncertainties related to the pandemic.
According to research company FactSet, T-Mobile gained 452,000 net new monthly paid phone customers in the first quarter, exceeding analyst’s forecast of 426,000.
Since millions of people in the U.S. have lost their jobs, T-Mobile Chief Executive, Mike Sievert, said he was expecting budget-constrained consumers to be drawn to the services offered by the carrier.
Sievert said during an earnings call:
“I expect that AT&T and Verizon customers will most certainly be looking to get out from under their high monthly bills in search of a better value,”
The company posted a marginal increase in revenue to $11.1 billion from a year earlier, missing expectations of $11.4 billion.
To deal with the lockdowns, T-Mobile has closed 80 percent of its stores. A rise in service sales, however, offset the decrease in demand.
The company said it accelerated its 5G deployment as demand continues to increase despite lockdowns, and in April, it installed more than 1,000 network sites. T-Mobile Technology Chief Executive, Neville Ray, said the network is “growing like a weed.”
The Panthera Post 