T-Mobile posted some big numbers in Q4 2014, adding a whopping 2.1 million net customers in the quarter and a total of 8.3 million net customers for the whole year. A lot of those customers came from other carriers, porting their phone numbers and cancelling their accounts with their previous carriers. In fact, T-Mobile added 2.1 customers from competitors for every 1 customer that they lost in 2014. They are growing like crazy and the companies CMO, Mike Sievert, had some interesting things to say about it yesterday at the Citi Internet, Media & Telecommunications Conference in Las Vegas. “We are taking share away from our competitors. They are complaining about irrational pricing and saying things will get back to normal. There will be no more normal. This is the new normal,” Sievert said
Sievert said that T-Mobile has built their brand into one that’s known for innovation and disrupting the industry. “When our competitors copy us, our differentiation improves,” Sievert said. “We are known for changing the rules of the industry.” With their UnCarrier rollouts including the JUMP upgrade program, free data roaming, and paying customer ETFs when they switch, they have forced the other carriers in the U.S. to take notice and make some drastic changes to the way they do business. Most recently, T-Mobile announced their Data Stash plans, which allows customers to carry over their unused data from month to month. AT&T followed suit and announced their own Rollver Data shortly thereafter, proving Sievert’s point that they are copying what T-Mobile is doing.
T-Mobile is also building out their network so they can keep up with all of these new customers. T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray said at the Citi Internet, Media & Telecommunications Conference that they will have LTE coverage for 300 million people in the U.S. by the end of 2015. The company is using its 700 MHz spectrum and rolling out 15 MHz x 15 MHz Wideband LTE to 121 major cities to improve speeds and reduce network congestion as well. T-Mobile is on a roll and they aren’t letting up.