T-Mobile’s revenue rose 4 percent to a record $11.9 billion in the fourth quarter, beating Wall Street’s expectations with earnings of 87 cents per share.
But the big question hanging over the company continues to be the fate of its proposed merger with rival Sprint. The companies are awaiting a ruling from a federal judge in a lawsuit from state attorneys general challenging the $26.5 billion deal.
“We are 100 percent convinced that this merger will result in a more competitive market with lower prices and a better network for customers,” T-Mobile CEO John Legere said on a conference call with investors and analysts. He said the company “remains confident in a positive outcome” from the merger case.
Also on the call, Legere teased a new “Un-carrier” announcement, the term the company has used for the special programs, pricing and promotions it rolls out to attract new customers, often forcing larger competitors AT&T and Verizon to change their own packages and promotions.
“Yep, that’s right,” Legere said, “we’re working on another Un-carrier announcement. Our team of evil geniuses are hard at work on plans to announce our next Un-carrier move that should come later this quarter. Because you know we’ll never stop changing this industry for the better. Stay tuned for more, and let the speculation games begin.”
Legere plans to step down as CEO in May of this year, succeeded by the company’s current president and COO, Mike Sievert.
The Bellevue, Wash.-based wireless carrier announced previously that it added a net total of 1.9 million customers in the fourth quarter, its 27th straight quarter with more than 1 million net customer additions.
Update: Here is T-Mobile’s annual Form 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Among other tidbits, the filing shows that company added about 1,000 employees over the past year, to 53,000 total, and spent $100 million less on advertising in 2019: $1.6 billion compared with $1.7 billion in 2018 and $1.8 billion in 2017.
