Reports strong August customer growth
T-Mobile US called upon unlicensed spectrum to power its latest “Un-carrier” move, announcing full support for Wi-Fi calling and messaging, an in-home picocell and a partnership with in-flight Wi-Fi provider Gogo. The latest round of official “Un-carrier” announcements would be 7.0 for those keeping score.
The announcement was headlined by T-Mobile US stating that every new smartphone it sells will come equipped to support calls and text messages sent over a Wi-Fi connection. The service is said to work like traditional cellular-based voice calling and messaging, with no application or extra steps require from the user.
The voice support is also designed to provide high-definition voice call quality and seamless coverage with T-Mobile US’ recently launched voice over LTE service when using a VoLTE-enabled smartphone. T-Mobile US launched commercial VoLTE services in June and recently expanded the offering to more than a dozen markets covering 107 million potential customers.
The T-Mobile US offering also allows customers to place free Wi-Fi calls to the United States from anywhere outside the country without having to download an application or dial any additional numbers. Sprint recently launched international Wi-Fi calling that allows customers to make calls and send text messages via Wi-Fi from 100 countries. T-Mobile US last year began offering unlimited international messaging and data services along with reduced rates on voice calls for international travelers.
To promote the new device capability, T-Mobile US said it would offer an “exclusive” enrollment window for its JUMP device upgrade program.
Looking to improve coverage on a more local level, T-Mobile US also unveiled its Personal CellSpot device that provides a Wi-Fi signal backhauled over a broadband connection that can be used to place and receive the carrier’s new Wi-Fi calling and text messaging service. The device will be available beginning Sept. 17, with current Simple Choice customers in the possession of a Wi-Fi calling smartphone able to get the device for free with a $25 refundable deposit.
For T-Mobile US, the device allows the carrier to bolster its perceived network coverage, while also offloading voice, messaging and data traffic from the carrier’s network onto a customer’s broadband connection.
Finally, T-Mobile US announced a deal with Gogo that will allow customers to send and receive unlimited text and picture messages as well as “get visual voicemail” on any Gogo-equipped flight on U.S.-based airlines. The service will be available for free to all T-Mobile US customers beginning Sept. 17.
T-Mobile US was expected by some to announce news tied to Apple’s launch this week of its latest iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models. The carrier did announce earlier this week a trade-in program that it claimed would provide the greatest value for used devices among nationwide carriers.
Robust August
Outside of the Wi-Fi moves, T-Mobile US’ management said August was its best month ever in gross customer additions, noting it added 2.75 million postpaid gross additions last month. Of that total, two million were reported to be direct customer additions, or subscribers that signed up for T-Mobile branded services.
The growth was bolstered by strong “porting ratios,” with T-Mobile US CEO John Legere stating it was signing up double the amount of customers from rivals than it was losing. That figure was four-to-one in the case of Sprint. T-Mobile US said it added just short of 1.5 million connections to its network during the second quarter, which topped the posted results from its larger rivals at Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility. T-Mobile US’ Q2 growth also out-paced the 1.1 million net additions posted during the second quarter of last year, but fell short sequentially of the nearly 2.4 million customers added during the first quarter of this year.
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