We already know that T-Mobile added roughly 869,000 net postpaid subscribers and 1.645 million total net customers in the fourth quarter of 2013. But how did that compare with the rest of the wireless industry? Business Insider reports that a new study from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) shows that in Q4 2013, T-Mobile showed a bigger increase in its customer base than Verizon, AT&T or Sprint showed over the same quarter.
However, CIRP’s research suggests that AT&T, which has emerged as T-Mobile CEO John Legere’s favorite punching bag over the past year, doesn’t have the most to fear from “the Uncarrier.” Even though AT&T’s customer base grew at a slower rate than T-Mobile’s it still grew on the quarter and AT&T also accounted for the highest percentage of smartphone activations in Q4.
No, the carrier with the most to fear from T-Mobile is Sprint, which was also the only carrier in CIRP’s study to actually lose subscribers in Q4. This dovetails with a survey released on Wednesday that showed a whopping 31% of Sprint subscribers whose contracts were up within the next six months wanted to find a new carrier.
If T-Mobile has gotten into AT&T’s head and has forced the carrier to take preemptive strikes against rumored “Uncarrier” offers, imagine what it’s doing to Sprint right now.
