T-Mobile posted its strongest customer growth in four years during Q2

T-Mobile iPhone launch line

T-Mobile US announced its financials for its second quarter last night, and the results are very impressive. Chock it up to finally landing the iPhone, the new ‘Un-carrier’ strategy—whatever it’s doing, it’s working. The carrier posted its strongest customer growth in 4 years.

In fact, believe it or not, T-Mobile led the US wireless industry in the second quarter, adding 685,000 branded postpaid phones and 1.1 million customers altogether. It also sold 4.3 million smartphones during the 3-month period, a year-over-year increase of 71 percent…

T-Mobile iPhone 5 store (TmoNews 001)

The company wouldn’t say exactly how many of those 4.3M smartphones were iPhones, but it did say that the popular handset accounted for approximately 29% of its branded gross customer additions and upgrade smartphone sales. So, it’s done really well for them.

T-Mobile’s CEO John Leger also attributes the successful quarter to their new Un-carrier campaign:

“T-Mobile’s Un-carrier approach has clearly resonated with consumers. By fixing the things that drive them mad, like contracts and upgrades, and freeing them from the two-year sentences imposed on them by our competitors, they are choosing the new T-Mobile in unprecedented numbers.

We are just beginning and we will continue to apply this innovative thinking to the Un-carrier offers we create and to the internal operations of our company, which taken together are driving significant shareholder value creation.”

The carrier has undergone (and is still undergoing) a major strategy shift over the past several months. Alongside the iPhone, T-Mobile launched new contract-free Choice rate plans back in March, which includes the option for unlimited talk, text and data for $70 per month.

T-Mobile (Uncarrier 001)

Additionally, the company also launched a new device upgrade plan called ‘Jump’ during the second quarter. The pay-for program allows subscribers to upgrade their devices every 6 months, and was interesting enough that it prompted AT&T and Verizon to follow suit.

In a statement to AllThingsD, Deutsche Telekom Chairman René Oberman said: “We are in the middle of a massive turnaround in the United States and we want to carry on along this successful course. We are prepared to spend more on high-value growth this year than previously planned.”