With Sprint Merger Closed, T-Mobile Surpasses AT&T As No. 2 Wireless Provider

After finalizing its merger with Sprint in the second quarter and posting solid customer growth, T-Mobile on Thursday said it has officially surpassed AT&T to become the No. 2 wireless carrier. T-Mobile added a net 1,245,000 customers in Q2, bringing its total customer count to 98.3 million. The company reported revenue for the quarter slightly above market estimates. 

Net income came to $110 million, with diluted earnings per share of 9 cents. Total revenues were $17.7 billion. 

• T-Mobile completes Sprint merger, Legere hands off to Sievert 
• AT&T's Q2 wireless adds hit by COVID-19

Analysts were expecting non-GAAP earnings of 7 cents per share on revenue of $17.61 billion. 

"Surpassing AT&T to become #2 was a huge milestone to kick off Q2, but that was only the beginning!" CEO Mike Sievert said in a statement. "In our first quarter as a combined company, T-Mobile led the industry in total branded customer adds – even in a challenging environment – and there is no doubt that we are THE leading growth company in wireless."

Total service revenues for the quarter increased year-over-year to $13.2 billion, driven by the Sprint merger and continued customer growth at T-Mobile. Total service revenues exclude approximately $1 billion of Boost revenues that are reflected in discontinued operations.

In terms of Q2 customer additions, 1,112,000 were postpaid net customer additions. T-Mobile posted 253,000 postpaid phone net customer additions with a postpaid phone churn rate of 0.80 percent. The total postpaid phone customer count increased to 65.1 million, overtaking AT&T in total postpaid phone customers.

Postpaid other net customer additions came to 859,000, reflecting new opportunities in T-Mobile for Business developed primarily due to COVID-19.

Prepaid net customer additions in Q2 were 133,000, with a prepaid churn rate of 2.81 percent.