T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ:TMUS) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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And then again, in Q2, we saw sequential decreases in churn. And I think that really speaks to the fact that this is a great product. It’s a great product that customers are really, really loving. And you see that both in this sequential churn decrease, but also just in the overall NPS scores, which continue to be the highest amongst any broadband category in America. So we’re really thrilled with where we are with this product.

Mike Sievert: Back to my comments, upfront, I said things have been remarkably consistent with what we rolled out to you at our Analyst Day in ’21. This is one of those things. We said we saw a potential here of 7 million to 8 million subscribers based on the excess capacity profile of our built mobile network. That means it’s not capital burdened. And because of that, we can make profit there. And so it plays a role. It’s a single-digit penetration role, and we’re on our way to going and seizing it for the benefit of our shareholders and our customers and it’s right on track.

Craig Moffett: Thanks.

Jud Henry: Thanks, Craig. Operator, next question please.

Operator: That will come from the line of Jonathan Chaplin with New Street Research. Your line is open.

Jonathan Chaplin: Thanks very much. Wonder if you can give us context on a couple of things? So firstly, how are you thinking about the evolution of upgrades in the second half of the year as we go through a new iPhone cycle? And kind of what have you factored into your guidance on EBITDA for that. It looks like upgrades to the industry have been coming in sort of lower than expected, much lower than historical trends. I’m wondering how that shifts in the second half of the year. And then, wondering if you can give us a little bit more context on fixed virus broadband churn. You mentioned that it’s come down sequentially, which isn’t surprising in that it’s always lower in the broadband market in the second quarter. But what does it look like on a year-over-year basis? Maybe you can give us some context around the kind of levels that it’s at for the mature portion of the base that’s been with you maybe for a year or more.

Mike Sievert: Yeah, Jonathan. You’re spot on in the premise of the question that looking at the aging of the base is the way to get at it. We’ll come to Mike on that in a minute. But first, on upgrades, historically low upgrades, Peter, what’s contemplated for the rest of the year and maybe a little commentary on why do we think we’re seeing that.

Peter Osvaldik: Yeah. Well, let me start with why do we think we’re seeing that. And fundamentally, we believe we’re meeting customers’ needs and desires. And if you look at what we’ve talked about from a network perspective and a value perspective, it makes a lot of sense. You come onto this network and you have a 5G device. Remember about two-thirds of our postpaid base already has a 5G device. And they get experience on this network that is just phenomenal in the broadest sense of the word, much more than the competitive sense can bring. And we think we’re just meeting their natural demand. Customers are happy with their devices. They’re happy with their devices from a longer perspective, Remember, we continue to have two-year financing constructs, so they have the ability to upgrade earlier than the competition, one of the unlocks of Phone Freedom that we put out there that led to the port ratio changes.

So fundamentally, we think we’re exactly meeting what customers need. In regards to the second half, the second half always tends to have slightly higher upgrade rates. And you mentioned that you have new product introduction from Apple. You tend to have promotional constructs and a little bit higher switching in the second half, and we’re typically the beneficiary of that. We also obviously make very, very solid offers to our base from an upgrade perspective. So we do have higher upgrade rates contemplated than what we saw in Q2, but we don’t specifically guide to those other than directionally.

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