T-Mobile may not have ended the year 2014 as the largest wireless carrier in the United States, but at least it dominates in one key respect -- luring new customers and keeping current ones.
According to a recent survey conducted by the research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) on mobile device users, the Uncarrier was found to have the highest percentage when it comes to winning over new subscribers and retaining existing customers. CIRP had collected its data through a January poll of 500 users who activated a new or used mobile device during the last quarter of 2014.
T-Mobile has indeed done an impressive job in attracting new customers. As a matter of fact, the carrier was able to increase its customer base by 29 percent during the last quarter of 2014. These additional new customers consist of first time mobile device users, people who switched from other carriers, and those who renewed their contracts.
As explained by CIRP executive Mike Levin, T-Mobile began the quarter with 10 percent of the consumers in CIRP's survey, but ended the quarter with 13 percent. Moreover, Levin observes that the 29 percent bump in T-Mobile's share is pretty consistent with the carrier's recent announcement that it had added more than 2 million customers to end the year 2014.
It is no secret that the four biggest wireless carriers in the United States are constantly one-upping each other. Of course, the clear leaders are Verizon Wireless and AT&T. But the number 3 spot continues to be hotly fought over by T-Mobile and Sprint, with the latter having just a very slight edge over the former. It is no surprise that T-Mobile has tried to be aggressive in launching promotions, offering competitive pricing, and introducing new schemes in order to attract new customers and keep its existing subscribers from bolting to rival carriers.
Interestingly, even though T-Mobile got the highest percentage in terms of customer additions and retentions, the carrier still ranks on third place in terms of the number of phone activations during the fourth quarter of 2014.
And despite its impressive performance in attracting and retaining customers, Sprint still has more subscribers compared to T-Mobile, at least based on recent announcements made by the two competing carriers. Indeed, T-Mobile has now reached 55 million subscribers, but Sprint has also revealed recently that it now has 56 million subscribers under its fold.
CIRP's survey also sheds light on other interesting matters. For instance, the results of the survey suggest that AT&T scored the best in terms of customer loyalty.
