T-Mobile has been on a roll ever since John Legere took the place of CEO of the company. John Legere is known not only for his rather amusing and sometimes crude behavior but also for his winning business skills, bringing the magenta-themed carrier from a position of constantly losing customers to one who’s net adds are greater than the competition over the past year or so. T-Mobile’s turnaround is becoming legendary in the industry and it’s all powered by what Legere calls the “Un-Carrier,” or a company that’s doing everything different from the competition. The most recent Un-Carrier move was called Data Stash and lets you roll over your unused data from month to month, giving users on capped plans more value.
T-Mobile’s fourth quarter of 2014 was one of the most successful yet, adding a whopping 2.1 million subscribers to the network, totalling 8.3 million additions for the year. Of that 2.1 million number 1.3 million customers were on post-paid plans. In some even more unbelievable numbers the growth for T-Mobile over the quarter was a whopping 80% of all growth in the industry, and almost 100% for the entire year. Actual revenues were just as strong with a 19.4% year over year growth in Q4, as well as 13.6% service revenues for the same time frame. In order to break these numbers down even further in the future T-Mobile has added three new metrics to its earnings reports for investors: Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA), Average Billings Per Account (ABPA) and Customers Per Account.
Q4 ARPA was $109.87, showing a 12.9% growth year over year, while ABPA was $143.79, showing a 3.6% growth. Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) was recorded at $5.6 billion for the whole year of 2014, and $1.8 billion for Q4 alone. That’s another stunning 41.4% growth year over year, showing some absolutely massive gains from T-Mobile not just in raw subscriber numbers but also financials for investors. Expansion isn’t just important for customer base though, it’s also important for the network, which T-Mobile has been growing consistently over the past few years since their initial LTE rollout.
T-Mobile’s goal for 2014 LTE rollout was to reach 250 million customers, and that goal was surpassed by 15 million bringing the total covered by its extensive LTE network to 265 million Americans. The new target for the end of 2015 now is reaching 300 million, which will likely prove to be a little more difficult as these costumers are going to be in more remote parts of the country. Wideband LTE is part of this strategy, with the 700MHz Band 12 and 1900MHz PCS spectrums being used for this metric. 121 markets were covered by T-Mobile Wideband LTE by the end of 2014, and the goal for 2015 is 150 markets. T-Mobile’s recent 700MHZ spectrum purchase will allow them to expand that service out to around 190 million people, increasing wireless range and reliability in areas where deployed. All in all 2014 has been a landmark year for Big Magenta.