MetroPCS reported gross additions of 866 thousand subscribers for Q4 2012, which represents a 29% decrease over the fourth quarter of 2011. The Company ended the fourth quarter of 2012 with approximately 8.9 million subscribers, which includes net subscriber losses during the quarter of 93 thousand subscribers.
The company said it now has over 2.2 million 4G LTE subscribers, an increase of 117% from the third quarter of 2012. Churn for the fourth quarter of 2012 was 3.6% compared to 3.7% in the fourth quarter of 2011 and down from 3.7% in the third quarter of 2012.
- In October 2012, MetroPCS agreed to merge with T-Mobile USA (a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom) in a deal that creates a much strengthened No.4 mobile operator in the U.S. market with deeper network coverage and the need for an accelerated path to one common LTE network. Despite operating incompatible legacy networks (CDMA and GSM), the companies said rapid handset turnover (60% – 65% per year) will make for a relatively quick migration of MetroPCS customers to LTE. MetroPCS customers will also benefit from T-Mobile’s much more extensive network.