Sprint vs. T-MobileWhich Carrier Ruled the Quarter?

Key metrics to consider• Postpaid net additions• Average revenue per user (ARPU)• Churn rate• Earnings• Network performance

Sprint’s Financials• Total revenue fell by 6% year

over year, to $8 billion.• Net loss of $585 million, or

$0.15 per share, up from a loss of $765 million in the year-ago quarter.

• Negative free cash flow of $100 million.

• Total revenue grew by 7% year over year, to $7.8 billion.

• Net income of $138 million, or $0.15 per share, up from a loss of $94 million in the year-ago quarter.

• Free cash flow grew to $411 million.

T-Mobile’s Financials

Sprint’s average revenue per user (ARPU) declined by nearly 11%, year over year.

Sprint’s Postpaid ARPU declined

Q3 2014 Q3 20150

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40

60

80

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T-Mobile’s average revenue per user (ARPU) increased by 2%, year over year.

T-Mobile’s Postpaid ARPU increased

Q3 2014 Q3 20150

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32

48

64

80

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• Churn is the rate at which customers leave a carrier.• Both companies have a churn rate of about 1.5%.• Sprint’s Q3 2015 churn rate was the lowest it’s ever been.

Postpaid Churn Rate

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Sprint added 553,000 postpaid net additions, while T-Mobile brought in 1.1 million.

Sprint T-Mobile0

500

1,000

1,500

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sTotal postpaid net additions

• During the quarter, the company deployed more two-channel (2x20 MHz) carrier aggregation into 80 markets, which improves capacity and brings higher data speeds.

• In August, RootMetrics said Sprint held the No. 3 spot in overall performance, and earned 55% more No. 1 spots in several categories, compared to last year’s rankings.

Sprint’s network improvements

Image source: RootMetrics.

• T-Mobile now has 300 million 4G LTE points of presence (POPs), completing its 2015 goal several months ahead of schedule.

• The carrier expanded its Wideband LTE to 245 markets, and will hit 260 by the end of the year.

• T-Mobile’s “Extended Range LTE” now covers 175 million POPs in 204 markets, and will reach 350 by the end of the year.

T-Mobile’s network improvements

Image source: RootMetrics.

• Sprint had its first quarter of positive postpaid phone net adds in more than two years.

• Following the quarterly results, Sprint’s parent company, SoftBank, said the carrier would have to cut $2 billion in annual costs.

• The cutbacks will result in thousands of job cuts.

What else happened with Sprint?

• Q3 2015 marked the 10th consecutive quarter of over 1 million net adds for T-Mobile.

• Following the quarterly results, T-Mobile launched its Uncarrier 10 event, adding free video streaming from more than 20 content sources and doubling customers’ high-speed data.

• The carrier also increased its unlimited data price from $80 to $95 per month.

What else happened with T-Mobile?

Image source: T-Mobile.

Which carrier came out on top?

• T-Mobile’s net subscriber growth far outpaces Sprint’s, and has for the past couple of years.

• Sprint’s overall network performance is still ranked slightly ahead of T-Mobile’s, but T-Mobile’s network upgrades could bring the carrier on par with Sprint soon.

• Sprint continues to lose money, while T-Mobile increased its net income in the quarter, year over year.

• T-Mobile’s rapid customer growth, positive net income, and momentum from its Uncarrier events easily gives it the win for this quarter.

Image source: T-Mobile.

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