T-Mobile just squeaked by the 100 million subscriber mark at the end of 3Q 2020 thanks to subscriber net adds of 2.035 million.
Those additions gives T-Mobile 100.4 million total subscribers across all its wireless categories, placing it firmly behind Verizon and ahead of AT&T in terms of national carrier size.
“Last quarter T-Mobile overtook AT&T to become #2 in U.S. wireless and today we announced our highest ever postpaid net adds,” said Mike Sievert, T-Mobile CEO in a press release. “Now, with over 100 million wireless customers and America’s largest 5G network, there is no doubt that we’re the growth leader in wireless.”
Much of the T-Mobile 100 million subscriber milestone comes from its acquisition of Sprint. T-Mobile reports 15% of Sprint postpaid customer traffic is now on the T-Mobile network and customer network migrations have begun.
The company reported total revenues of $19.3 billion and service revenues of $14.1 billion, with net income of $1.3 billion.
In addition to T-Mobile touting its 100 million subscriber mark, it’s also touting it’s lead in 5G coverage, claiming its 5G network can now reach 270 million people across 8,300 markets. Its coveted mid-band spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band, which provides the best mix of coverage and speed, covers 30 million people, the carrier reports.
It’s been adding mid-band spectrum 5G markets rapidly, and expects to reach 100 million by the end of the year.
Tucked in the T-Mobile earnings announcement was a reveal about its recently launched fixed wireless service. The company says recent fixed wireless launches are laying the groundwork for what will eventually become a “[n]ationwide 5G commercial launch of fixed wireless broadband.”
T-Mobile’s current fixed wireless offer is based on 4G LTE. A nationwide 5G fixed wireless service commitment by T-Mobile is an interesting piece of news.
A “nationwide” fixed wireless service is going to be a big challenge for the cellphone carriers, since their main competitor for the service will be Starlink. They key difference will be that Starlink, once their network of satellites is in place, will be able to offer service, and the same level of service, EVERYWHERE, not just within a mile or two from a cell tower and lesser service the farther away from those towers you get. This the killer for cellular, none of the carriers have the site density installed so that they can offer their best service to anyone who wants to sign up. With cellular, there will always have to be that small-print caveat of “Service not available everywhere and top advertised speeds not available everywhere, service will vary due to terrain”. Of course, it is going to take years for Starlink to get enough satellies up and offer that blanket service, but once they are, the reason to subscribe to a fixed wireless service from a cellphone company will be pretty slim indeed.
If they can do it at $50 dollars a month and Starlink is $100 they will do just fine. As long as they get it going quickly. People on DSL and dialup as well as some slower latency high orbit Satellite are looking for a solution and whomever gets it going first with a lower price point is going to have a major advantage.
If they can get it done quickly, yes, they will have an advantage. One other requirement for fixed wireless to work well that I forgot to mention in my original post is that there must be sufficient back-haul available at EVERY site to be able to provide that 100 Mbps service level. Right now, I’m not sure any carrier has that capability. I have not seen any low-band 5G site that can deliver anything more than 12-25 Mbps on a good day and I have driven 1/4 of the state mapping and testing for Cellmapper. Some of the bigger cities and towns might have 150 Mbps on low-band 5G but that is extremely rare. I just don’t think the back-haul is there yet.