Sprint has managed to hold on to its position as the number three wireless carrier in the U.S. through the end of 2014, adding 1 million new connections during the fourth quarter of the year. That’s an increase of 42 percent year-over-year, and shows that the company can still attract new users despite lagging behind Verizon and AT&T in total subscriber share.
It’s not all good news, though. The company reported today that it lost 205,000 postpaid smartphone subscribers – people who have a monthly agreement to pay for phone service. The company’s total net postpaid connections grew by 30,000, but all of that growth came from tablet users. Compare that to T-Mobile, which added 1.3 million net postpaid subscribers during the same period.
What’s more, people are leaving Sprint much faster than its competition: the company’s churn rate for the fourth quarter of 2014 was 2.3 percent, compared to Verizon’s churn of 1.39 percent. Verizon’s churn rate was the highest the company has seen in two years, and it’s still just a little more than half of what Sprint’s was.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere has said that he expected his company to pass Sprint by the end of 2014, and it looks like that didn’t quite happen. That said, Sprint’s current position is very precarious, especially with all the momentum behind T-Mobile. Under CEO Marcelo Claure, Sprint is engaging in some aggressive promotions in an attempt to attract new customers, but it’s not clear if that will be enough to stave off the magenta tide.
