T-Mobile USA, the only major U.S. carrier not offering the iPhone 4S, claims that not offering the new device is costing them customers as those interested in the device flock to the carrier’s competitors.
AllThingsD reports on comments offered by T-Mobile USA CEO Philipp Humm in the company’s recent earnings call:
“Earnings improved as we continued to focus on making smartphones affordable to all Americans through our unlimited Value plans, improvements to our 4G network, and an expanding portfolio of 4G devices,” T-Mobile USA CEO Philipp Humm said in a statement. “Discipline on the cost side contributed to year-on- year margin improvement, while postpay churn, in particular related to the iPhone 4S launches by competitors, will continue to be an area of concern.”
The carrier added only 126,000 new customers during their most recent quarter, down from the 137,000 new subscribers added in the same period last year. According to T-Mobile, this is because customers are going to their competitors, and even leaving T-Mobile in order to get the iPhone 4S.
T-Mobile’s use of an unusual frequency called AWS, which the iPhone does not support, for their 3G data network is the main reason that the carrier has yet to be able to offer the iPhone to their customers.