T-Mobile reports Q2 2009 earnings; income up, subscriber adds slowing

T-Mobile USA just turned in its Q2 2009 numbers and while things weren’t all bad for the nation’s number four, Tmo is seeing its progress slowed while both Verizon and AT&T continue to gobble up subscribers by the millions. T-Mobile netted 325,000 new subscribers last quarter, down from 668,000 YoY and 415,000 sequentially. Of all the numbers reported, that is likely the most significant. While 325K net adds is fantastic from Sprint’s side of the table, it’s less than half of what Tmo took on in the same quarter last year. Operating income came in at $1.6 billion, up 1 percent YoY and a healthy 16 percent sequentially. Profits were down from $452 million in Q2 2008 to $425 million this past quarter, but up significantly from Q1 2009 which came in at $322 million. Finally, total revenue came in at $5.34 billion, down from $5.47 billion YoY and $5.4 billion sequentially.

All things considered, Tmo had a fair showing this past quarter — a quarter that saw Sprint launch the Palm Pre, AT&T launch the iPhone 3GS and Verizon continue to bulldoze through the middle of the country. Moving forward however, the myTouch 3G doesn’t quite seem to have the allure of the G1 which leaves T-Mobile lacking a true flagship draw. Verizon has the Storm 2 on the way, AT&T may have a new entry-level iPhone 3GS in store and Sprint, well, Sprint still has the Pre exclusively for the rest of the year. We know T-Mobile has some great handsets in store in the near future but, considering the competition, we can definitely see the carrier’s Q2 slump carrying over to Q3.

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