Industry-Leading Customer Satisfaction (NPS)
Net Promoter Score of 45, more than 20% higher than the next closest competitor, indicating widening differentiation on network, value and experience.
T Mobile US
· TMUS
April 28th, 2026
Summary
- Earnings Call Date:
- 2026-04-28
- Change Since:
- -2.65%
- Next Earnings Date:
- 2026-07-23
Earnings Call Sentiment
PositiveThe call presented numerous strong operational and financial achievements: leadership in NPS, robust postpaid net additions (+6% YoY), solid ARPA growth (+3.9% Q1) and market-leading revenue and EBITDA growth (postpaid service revenue +15% YoY; core adjusted EBITDA +12% YoY), alongside accelerating broadband momentum and expanded shareholder returns. Management raised guidance and described disciplined, returns-focused fiber JV activity, while emphasizing network innovation (5G Advanced, edge/AI initiatives). The primary negatives were higher postpaid account churn (driven by mix effects), increased equipment-related losses (several hundred million YoY), and execution/visibility risks around multi-JV fiber rollout and early-stage edge AI monetization. Overall, highlights substantially outweigh the lowlights, signaling strong momentum and confidence but with some execution and margin pressures to monitor.
Company Guidance
T‑Mobile raised its 2026 outlook, now targeting 950,000–1,050,000 total postpaid net account additions; roughly $77.0 billion in full‑year service revenue (≈8% growth) with Q2 service revenue ≈$19 billion (≈+9% YoY); postpaid ARPA growth of 2.5%–3.0% for the full year; a higher core adjusted EBITDA range of $37.1–$37.5 billion (up $0.1 billion at the low end) and Q2 core adjusted EBITDA of ≈$9.4 billion (≈+10% YoY); unchanged cash CapEx of ≈$10 billion; adjusted free cash flow raised to $18.1–$18.7 billion (up $0.1 billion at the low end); and an increased 2026 shareholder return authorization by up to $3.6 billion to a total of up to $18.2 billion (the company also returned $6 billion to shareholders in Q1).
Strong Postpaid Net Additions and ARPA Growth
Postpaid net account additions of 217,000 in Q1, up 6% year-over-year, with postpaid ARPA growth of 3.9% in Q1 and full-year postpaid ARPA guidance of 2.5%–3.0%.
Robust Revenue and Profit Growth
Postpaid service revenue grew 15% year-over-year; total service revenue grew 11% year-over-year (over 4x the growth rate of the next closest competitor); core adjusted EBITDA grew 12% year-over-year.
Strong Free Cash Flow and Capital Returns
Industry-leading free cash flow margins of 24%; returned $6.0 billion to shareholders (dividends and buybacks) in the quarter; increased 2026 shareholder return authorization by up to $3.6 billion to a total of up to $18.2 billion.
Raised and Affirmed 2026 Guidance
Raised total postpaid net account additions guidance to 950,000–1,050,000; service revenue full-year target ~ $77 billion (~8% growth) with Q2 ~ $19 billion (~9% YoY); core adjusted EBITDA guidance raised to $37.1B–$37.5B; adjusted free cash flow increased to $18.1B–$18.7B; cash CapEx unchanged at ~$10 billion.
Broadband Momentum and Product Leadership
Fastest-growing ISP in America for the quarter with over 0.5 million total broadband net additions and accelerating 5G broadband net adds year-over-year; 5G broadband speeds reported as over 50% faster than the next closest competitor and top customer experience rankings from J.D. Power, Forbes, CNET, Consumer Reports and OpenSignal.
Fiber JV Expansion and Capital-Efficient Play
Announced two additional fiber JVs (to acquire GoNetSpeed, Greenlight Networks and i3 Broadband); management disclosed ~$2.7 billion of investment across the two JVs at close, pursuing double-digit IRRs and a returns-focused approach.
Network and Innovation Advances
Nationwide 5G Advanced network enabling new offerings: live translation beta (network-native AI), partnership connecting 5G advanced to Figure AI robots (edge use cases), and ongoing migration toward edge inferencing opportunities; T Life app engagement ~25 million monthly active users; several hundred new experience stores delivering higher premium mix and higher NPS.
Operational Efficiency/Transformation Progress
Cost synergy target of $2.7 billion exiting 2027 reported as on track, with further runway beyond 2027; initial AI-powered chatbot resolving ~60% of inbound customer questions (example of transformation-driven efficiencies).
Operator
[Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Cathy Yao, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations for T-Mobile US. Please go ahead.
Quan Yao
Good afternoon, and welcome to T-Mobile's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. Joining me on our call today are Srini Gopalan, our President and CEO; Peter Osvaldik, our CFO; as well as other members of the leadership team. During this call, we will make forward-looking statements, which involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. We encourage you to review the risk factors set forth in our SEC filings. Our earnings release, Investor Factbook and other documents related to our results as well as reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP results discussed on this call can be found on our Investor Relations website. With that, let me now turn it over to Srini.
Srinivasan Gopalan
Thanks, Cathy, and good afternoon, everyone. We're here in Bellevue today ready to discuss another extraordinary quarter for T-Mobile. This quarter is a powerful demonstration that the strategy we outlined for you in February is working. Our strategy is driven by widening differentiation, providing customers with the best network, best value and best experience, all at the same place so that they don't need to make trade-offs anymore. We made strong progress on this strategy this quarter and nothing demonstrates this more succinctly than our NPS score. An industry-leading 45, over 20% higher than that of our next closest competitor. This widening differentiation gives us access to unprecedented growth opportunities, and our in...
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