T-Mobile US Inc at UBS Global Media & Communications Conference Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : So we were just talking about the Analyst Day you conducted about a month ago. With all that knowledge, can you just give us a sense for what the company's priorities are if you just look out into 2025?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : Makes sense. Before we address a number of these issues, if we could drill down a little bit, how was Black Friday for T-Mobile and the industry in your view? And how would you compare it to last year? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies.

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : Got you. And there's a lot of worries among shareholders about whether or not the growth that we've seen in the wireless industry is sustainable. So how are you positioned? And is the company positioned as where are we actually to see sort of fewer net adds going into the '25-'26?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : That's interesting. So port volumes are higher. Can you talk a little bit about porting ratios? I mean are you taking more than you were, say, 12 months or 2 years ago? And is it really a function of everything you talked about at the Analyst Day sort of price value relationship?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : It makes it easy. Can we talk about upgrades a little bit? And then we'll talk about some of the segments that you guys are going after. But obviously, there's a scare that we would see higher upgrades with the new iPhone, didn't happen. Do you think that the current rate of upgrades that we that we're seeing are sustainable? And is that good or bad for T-Mobile?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : But do you think when upgrade rates or if upgrade rates move up, say, this time next year with a new form factor on the iPhone, is that sort of -- does that lead to higher churn and potentially lower profitability?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : So some areas where you have been growing nicely, and you laid out again at your Analyst Day was the rural markets and the business markets. Can you give us an update on sort of where you think those numbers can go over the next couple of years? I mean how far are we in terms of attacking those opportunities at T-Mobile?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : Makes sense. Maybe now turning to ARPU. How should we think about trends in ARPU and ARPA just given the competitive environment? And maybe along with that, there's been a number of pricing actions in '24. Do you think the competitive situation is such that we should expect to see similar activity in '25?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : So how should we think about the wholesale market? Obviously, you have some pressure from ACP that you guys called out and potentially from Boost coming off the network. I think you guys called that out as maybe a headwind for '25. Is the wholesale market in general, maybe outside of those two issues, a potential source of growth for the company as we look out to '26?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : Got you. Maybe shifting to the broadband strategy and maybe first, we'll start with fixed wireless. Obviously, a solid driver of growth, new guidance for -- it was 12 million subs in '28, I believe it was. Just how do you do -- as you look maybe even beyond the '28 and the guidance you gave not on products that you think can continue to grow just given the demand that consumers have in terms of speeds and payload?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : Beyond the 12 million, would you need capital to drive beyond the 12 million? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies.

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : Got it. Maybe we'll switch over to fiber. At your Analyst Day, you also unveiled 12 million to 15 million passings. A, is that the right number? Could you do more? Or just how should we think of -- especially in an age where your competitors are talking a lot about convergence versus AT&T and Verizon that would give you a smaller footprint? And is that something that sort of worries you as convergence becomes more in focus?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : Makes sense. And you have a number of pilot markets going. And you're right, I think in general, fiber-to-the-home companies talk about 40% penetration. How do you think of that from T-Mobile's perspective? Obviously, your net promoter scores are very high, highest in the sort of connectivity business. You obviously, as you said, the ports are coming your way. I mean do you think -- as you look at the 12 million to 15 million homes that you can do that? Is T-Mobile -- I don't think you laid it out at your Analyst Day, but is 40% your goal? Or do you think you guys can do -- maybe you could talk a little bit about what you've seen in some of your pilot markets already, but do you think you can better than 40%.

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : Makes sense. Now your strategy is unique in that you're working with a number of smaller companies on this strategy. We have the Metronet deal and the Lumos deal still not closed. But Metronet, you gave some data, I think, at your Analyst Day that they're cranking along in terms of homes passed, but does it create some risk working with these sort of some of the smaller guys? Instead of sort of doing it yourself, which is there are some negatives to that, too, from a cash flow standpoint than others. But does it create -- does it change the risk profile that you're working with some of these smaller guys that don't -- maybe they don't have a history of some of the bigger guys in terms of--

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : There's a lot of -- even private equity-backed independent fiber-to-the-home companies, is there room to do other deals like you've done with Metronet or Lumos? Or even smaller deals with other companies that you've worked with in the past and in some of these other markets?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : Right. Maybe last question on the topic, convergence. It's something we're hearing a lot about now. What's your view on convergence? Aside from just bundling the products together, but does it create economic value? I'm not sure , in our view, the work we've done, I think the jury is still out. In other words, there's 1 plus 1 equal 3 in putting these services. And we hear that from a lot of companies that it does in terms of lower churn or overall lower costs but just your overall view on sort of the economic value creation of conversions?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : Makes sense. All right. A couple -- you know what, let's -- why don't we skip to a couple of questions about some acquisitions you guys have done. First of all, Mint Mobile, obviously, massive growth at Mint from when you guys announced the deal until you close it. Just what does that do for your company? First of all, I'd say how would you rate that acquisition, the performance of the company since you've agreed to acquire? And then just your overall view of the prepaid market inside of T-Mobile?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : And then second acquisition I want to talk about is US Cellular. Just how should we -- what is the assets you're getting with US Cellular do for the company?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : One question about the network. I mean one of the things you said earlier talking about the fixed wireless businesses only about 60% of the spectrum has been deployed for 5G at this point. Where are you in terms of the 2.5 deployment? C-band, I don't know that you guys have started to deploy that yet? And then maybe some commentary on what happened, what do you think eventually happens to the 800 megahertz spectrum?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : Great. And just wrapping it all up here. We touched on a lot of different aspects of the business, but what would you say are the sort of core element within T-Mobile, that ensure that you'll be able to hit the guidance that you laid out and maintain that number one role in terms of the largest not just wireless company in the fastest-growing wireless company in the U.S. but connectivity company in the US?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS - Analyst : Sounds good. We'll leave right there, Mike. Thanks for being here.