T-Mobile can expect its growth to slow down over the first quarter of 2018 and is likely to generate approximately 614,000 new net postpaid handset additions, as per the latest prediction from Wells Fargo picked up by FierceWireless. The company’s Q1 2018 performance still isn’t expected to be characterized as unusual given how the initial three months of every calendar year almost always see a decline in wireless performance following a period of aggressive holiday sales. T-Mobile generated 1.1 million branded postpaid net additions in Q4 2017, as per its latest financial report.
While Wells Fargo initially forecasted 678,000 net postpaid handset additions for T-Mobile, the Wall Street firm now reduced its quarterly service revenue prediction for the company, having slashed it to $7.82 billion, down from the initial $7.86 billion sum. The wireless carrier’s total net additions in the first quarter of the year should still yield some promising positives, including a growing interest in connected vehicle systems and smartwatches, as per the same experts. Wells Fargo is now expecting T-Mobile to post first-quarter adds of approximately 216,000 in the segment, having altered its initial forecast which predicted 120,000 such additions. The stateside mobile service industry as a whole is expected to grow across the board going forward, with its prospects appearing to be particularly lucrative with the advent of 5G. The next generation of wireless networks is widely expected to create a broad range of new monetization opportunities for telecom companies which should see wireless carriers revamp their business-to-business offerings and position themselves as more of product partners to their enterprise clients than just service providers.
T-Mobile is still the fastest-growing telecom giant in the United States by some margin, having managed to reach 3.6 million branded postpaid net additions in 2017. That performance provided a major contribution to the firm’s total 2017 revenues which hit $40.6 billion last year, with T-Mobile’s net income amounting to $4.5 billion over the same period. Postpaid customers are generally considered to be more valuable than prepaid ones due to their lower tendency to switch network operators and the fact that they spend more on average, according to numerous previously disclosed financial reports from the wireless industry.