Industry-leading top-line and EBITDA performance
Q4 service revenue +10% year-over-year (5% organic); adjusted EBITDA +7% year-over-year (4% organic). Guidance: 2026 service revenue ~ $77B (≈8% reported growth, ≈6% organic) and 2026 adjusted EBITDA $37–37.5B (≈10% reported, ≈7% organic). Management expects >$10B service revenue growth and >$7B incremental core adjusted EBITDA from 2025→2027 at the high end.
Strong customer acquisition and account growth
Q4 delivered 261,000 postpaid net account additions (~10x the comparable reported competitor). Guidance for 2026: 900,000–1,000,000 postpaid net account additions (implicit ≈2.5M postpaid phone net adds). Company reports 34+ million accounts/relationships and historically ~1.2M new prepaid relationships added annually.
Value and pricing traction (ARPA/ARPU expansion)
Postpaid ARPA grew 2.7% year-over-year in Q4 (organic ARPA cited ~3.6%). ARPU has risen ~13% since 2020. Company guiding to postpaid ARPA growth of ~2.5%–3% and highlights strong premium plan loading (60%+ on premium plans) and favorable front-book/back-book dynamics supporting sustainable value expansion.
Clear network leadership and measurable speed advantages
5G SA core deployed in 2021 (3–4 year lead vs competitors), median download speeds ~2× nearest competitors. On iPhone 17: ~85% faster vs one rival and ~50% faster vs the other. 2.5 GHz spectrum covers ~70% more area than C-band. Recognized #1 network by J.D. Power; 26% of recent network switchers now cite T‑Mobile as the best network (up from ~12.5% in 2020).
Rapid broadband (FWA + fiber) growth and targets
FWA grew from zero to ~8M customers in ~3–4 years. Company now targets 15M FWA customers by 2030 (previously 12M by 2028). Combined with fiber (expected +3–4M customers), management expects 18–19M total broadband customers by 2030. FWA metrics: customers +77%, usage per customer +27%, speeds +50% (period cited).
Digital & AI adoption materially improving efficiency
TLife: >100M downloads, ~24M monthly active users (avg ~4 uses/month). Upgrade flow: from 22% (assisted) in Q4 2024 to 73% of upgrades on TLife and 39% unassisted today. Management expects ≈$3B of run-rate savings by 2027 from AI/digital initiatives (Peter cited incremental savings of ~$1.3B in 2026 and ~$2.7B in 2027). Call volume reduced ~50% (target 75%).
Strong free cash flow generation and shareholder returns
Q4 free cash flow conversion 22%; FY2025 conversion ~25%. Free cash flow guidance: $18–18.7B in 2026 and $19.5–20.5B in 2027. Since 2022 the company returned >$45B to shareholders; recently returned >$20B and plans up to $30B of shareholder returns across 2026–2027 (including up to ~$10B repurchases/year). Q1 share buybacks accelerated to up to $5B.
Strategic partnerships and forward-looking innovation
AI RAN Innovation Center with NVIDIA, Nokia and Ericsson progressing (field trials expected in 2026). Live Translate (AI built into core) launched—first scale AI service integrated in the network core. Ongoing partnerships/JVs for fiber (MetroNet, Lumos) and satellite (Starlink/T Satellite) position the company for new product expansion.
Improving customer experience and NPS momentum
Net Promoter Score widened materially since 2023; company cites the NPS improvement as a primary driver of outperformance. Retail experience stores outperform authorized retailers on NPS. Frontline initiatives + culture + digital tools have cut call volumes ~50% and increased self-service usage substantially.
Prudent financial planning and conservative balance-sheet assumptions
CapEx expected $9–10B in 2026 focused via customer-driven coverage. Cash interest guidance assumes conservative 2.5x leverage leading to cash interest of ~$4.3B in 2026 and ~$5.0B in 2027 (management notes this is higher than some consensus assumptions). Management maintains disciplined capital allocation with a flexible ~ $22B additional envelope after return targets.