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T-Mobile unloads half a million iPhone 5 handsets in less than a month

But other stats from T-Mobile's Q1 2013 results aren't quite so rosy. 

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Reuters
A T-Mobile store in Los Angeles.
  • By Matthew Shaer

On April 12, T-Mobile began selling the Apple iPhone 5. Four weeks later, the Deutsche Telekom subsidiary has already unloaded half a million iPhone 5 handsets. That's the banner news from T-Mobile's first-quarter results, which were made public earlier today. 

"Our first quarter operating metrics and financial results are showing positive impact from the changes we began making in the fourth quarter," T-Mobile exec John Legere said in a statement. "We ended the quarter with strong operational momentum." 

Of changes at T-Mobile, there have been plenty. For instance, there was the big 2012 merger with Dallas-based MetroPCS, which had 9.3 million subscribers – giving T-Mobile approximately 40 million US subscribers in all. And then there was the news that T-Mobile would entirely do away with contracts – including contracts on the new iPhone – and rebrand itself as the "Un-Carrier." 

So yes, the Q1 results do seem to be a validation of sorts for T-Mobile. Not that it was all sunny news from corporate HQ. As All Things D reports, revenue was down 7 percent; meanwhile, T-Mobile is spending hundreds of millions in an effort to expand its high-speed network. 

Still, in an analysis published earlier this month at eWeek, Wayne Rush saw no reason not to be optimistic about the carrier. 

"At this point, the future looks very bright for T-Mobile," Mr. Rash wrote. "The company now has 43 million subscribers; it's got access to an expanded portfolio of LTE spectrum, which is enough to give it at least 20MHz across most of the United States. In addition, its majority owner, [Deutsche Telekom], seems committed to letting T-Mobile U.S. grow as an independent wireless service provider." 

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