T-Mobile Claims No. 2 Mobile Spot, With 98 Million Customers

(Bloomberg) -- T-Mobile US Inc., a distant fourth place in the U.S. wireless industry for much of its life, is now officially No. 2.

With the Sprint Corp. takeover completed in April -- and those customers now on T-Mobile’s books -- the carrier announced Thursday that it overtook AT&T Inc. last quarter to become the second-biggest mobile provider in the U.S.

Counting T-Mobile and Sprint’s pay-as-you-go customers, along with subscribers who get a regular monthly bill, the combined company reached 98.3 million subscribers in the period. AT&T Inc. has about 93 million total mobile customers, while Verizon Communications Inc. has 119 million.

Looking ahead, T-Mobile expects to add 1.7 million to 1.9 million new monthly customers this year. That’s down from more than 4 million picked up last year, but T-Mobile has a history of giving conservative forecasts and raising the outlook over time.

T-Mobile’s latest quarterly results also eased investor fears that Sprint would weigh on the company’s bottom line. Earnings topped analysts’ estimates, sending the stock up as much as 8.2% in late trading Thursday.

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