T-Mobile’s Q4 earnings have surged amid increased demand for its AI and 5G offerings, revealing a net income of $2.98 billion, a 54% increase from last year.
The U.S. telecom company’s soaring revenue aligns with the mobile industry’s boom in smartphones, AI implementation, and high-speed internet.
Over the next few years, the global mobile market is expected to grow by 2.63 trillion, driven mainly by 5G and AI, according to a report from Technavio.
In its fourth quarter, T-Mobile added 903,000 monthly paying phone subscribers, mainly driven by demand for its premium 5G plans.
This marked a record for T-Mobile’s contract-based phone gross additions and marked its “greatest growth year in its history.”
This drove service revenue up 6% to $16.9 billion, while overall revenue increased 6.8% to $21.9 billion, beating analyst estimates of $21.36 billion.
Postpaid phone churn, the percentage of contract-based customers who cancel or leave a mobile carrier within a given period, also remained under 1% for the provider.
“In 2024, more new postpaid customers chose the Un-carrier than ever before, and we had our lowest ever full-year postpaid phone churn,” said CEO Mike Sievert.
Over the past few years, T-Mobile has actively integrated AI across various facets of its operations.
In a multi-year collaboration with OpenAI, T-Mobile is developing IntentCX, an AI-driven platform that analyzes real-time customer data and interactions to provide personalized customer service solutions.
“Each one of T-Mobile’s millions of customers experiences the mobile service and network differently, and their needs and problems are unique,” the company said in the news release.
By utilizing OpenAI’s AI capabilities and T-Mobile user data, IntentCX will automate customer interactions “to maximize the success of every customer journey.”
In September 2024, T-Mobile partnered with Nvidia and Ericsson to develop AI-powered solutions to optimize network performance and efficiency.
“We intend to be a company that drives the future on 6G,” Sievert said.
“And that’s why we’ve struck our unique partnership with Ericsson, Nokia, and Nvidia to help invent AI RAN and bring the future about in a way that disproportionately benefits T-Mobile customers,” he added.
The global mobile application market is projected to grow by $2.63 trillion from 2025 to 2029, with an estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 31.1%, Technavio reported.
This expansion is driven by the increasing adoption of smartphones and high-speed internet and the integration of advanced technologies like AI and machine learning.
Telecommunications companies are leveraging AI to optimize network performance, enhance customer interactions, prevent fraud, and develop new revenue streams.
One of the most significant impacts of AI in telecom is network optimization and predictive maintenance.
In November, T-Mobile CEO Sievert said the telecom company intended to be a company that “drives the future of 6G.”
Following its earnings report, Sievert said AI growth and AI workloads would be a good way “for us to increasingly showcase that [network] differentiation, especially as AI begins to leap [from] textual interfaces to much more video, audio, imagery.”
“It’s early days, but I think this is a nice tailwind for our business because it’s going to be important that we’re able to showcase these advantages,” he added.