T-Mobile beats estimates for wireless subscriber growth, fueled by demand for premium plans

(Reuters) -T-Mobile US on Wednesday exceeded Wall Street expectations for quarterly wireless subscriber additions as more customers chose its discounted plans that bundle streaming services like Netflix, sending its shares up 3%.

The U.S. telecom giant raised its postpaid net customer additions forecast to be between 5.6 million and 5.8 million, from its earlier projection of 5.4 million to 5.7 million.

The company’s strong performance in customer growth is largely driven by its high-speed 5G plans, which are often more affordable compared to those offered by AT&T and Verizon.

T-Mobile, one of the top three telecom carriers in the U.S., has seen increased adoption of its premium plans like Go5G Next and Go5G Plus, which include streaming services.

The company announced last month that it plans to launch a new AI decision-making platform called IntentCX, in partnership with OpenAI, to offer more personalized customer solutions.

It added 865,000 postpaid phone customers in the third quarter, flying past FactSet estimates of 727,500 additions.

Revenue for the quarter came in at $20.16 billion, beating estimates of $20.01 billion, according to LSEG data.

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Tasim Zahid)