By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – T-Mobile stock surged 7.7% in premarket Thursday after the company’s robust outlook on subscriber additions in the current year, banking on a high-speed 5G network where it claims a lead over rivals.
Postpaid net customer additions are expected to be 5 million-5.5 million. T-Mobile has been ahead of Verizon (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T (NYSE:T) in rolling out 5G network and was unaffected by the recent conflict between telecom services providers and airlines over airwaves.
The outlook on subscriber additions compares with AT&T’s forecast of growth slowing down after a strong year.
T-Mobile ended the year with 646,000 high-speed internet customers, exceeding its goal of half a million.
Total net customer additions were 1.8 million in the fourth quarter and 5.8 million in the 12 months, the highest annual number in five years. It closed the year with a total customer count of close to 109 million.
Total revenue rose 2.2% year-on-year to near $21 billion. Adjusted profit per share fell 43% to 34 cents owing to costs related to its merger with Sprint.
The company expects merger costs to be at least $4.5 billion in 2022, around 50% more than last time. Merger synergies are seen between $5 billion and $5.3 billion, up from $3.8 billion in 2021.