T-Mobile US Q4 EBITDA increased 10%, 5G network next year
Staff Writer |
T-Mobile US announced, for 2019, the company expects postpaid net customer additions between 2.6 and 3.6 million.
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Adjusted EBITDA, excluding the impact of the new lease standard, is expected to be between $12.7 and $13.2 billion in 2019.
T-Mobile US said its three-year CAGR guidance (2016 - 2019) for net cash provided by operating activities is expected to be at 17% - 21%, up from prior guidance of 7% - 12%. Three-year CAGR guidance (2016 - 2019) for free cash flow is unchanged at 46% - 48%.
For fourth quarter, branded postpaid net customer additions were 1.4 million, which was the best result in 17 quarters. Branded postpaid phone churn was a fourth quarter record low of 0.99%, down 19 basis points year-over-year, the company stated.
fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA increased 10% year-over-year to $3.0 billion, primarily due to higher operating income. EPS decreased by $2.36 to $0.75, primarily due to the impact of the TCJA, resulting in a benefit of $2.50 in prior year quarter.
fourth quarter total revenues increased 6% to a record-high $11.4 billion, driven by growth in service revenues and equipment revenues. Total service revenues increased 6% to a record-high $8.2 billion.
At the end of fourth quarter 2018, T-Mobile owned a nationwide average of 31 MHz of 600 MHz low band spectrum.
T-Mobile now covers more than 325 million people with 4G LTE, up from 322 million at the end of 2017. T-Mobile US stated that, in fourth quarter 2018, the company was once again the nation's fastest LTE network, realizing average 4G LTE download speeds of 33.4 Mbps, and average 4G LTE upload speeds of 12.1 Mbps.
T-Mobile US announced its network will be ready for the introduction of the first standards-based 5G smartphones in 2019. The company plans on the delivery of a nationwide standards-based 5G network next year. ■
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