T-Mobile beats postpaid phone subscriber estimates

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(Reuters) – T-Mobile US Inc <TMUS.O> said on Thursday it added more postpaid phone subscribers than expected in the third quarter, as demand for its services picked up with people staying at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Carriers such as T-Mobile, AT&T Inc <T.N> and Verizon Communications Inc <VZ.N> have benefited as many Americans continue to work from home during the virus outbreak, boosting demand for its phone, TV and internet services.

T-Mobile added 689,000 postpaid subscribers in the quarter ended Sept. 30, above FactSet estimates of 422,000.

The company’s net income rose to $1.25 billion (£951 million), or $1.00 per share, in the third quarter, from $870 million, or $1.01 per share, a year earlier.

Total revenue rose to $19.27 billion from $11.06 billion, compared with estimates of $18.34 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

The wireless carrier expects postpaid phone net customer additions to be between 1.3 million and 1.4 million in the second half of 2020, including 600,000 to 700,000 in the fourth quarter.

(Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru and Sheila Dang in New York; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)