T-Mobile has credited the G1 phone and a surge in mobile broadband sales for minimal revenue losses in 2008. It reported its results for the full year ended 31 December today (27 February).
The operator’s service revenue was down 1.7% to £2.93bn, while mobile broadband device sales were up by 250% on the previous year. The T-Mobile G1, which was launched at the end of October 2008, was the operator’s best-selling launch of the year and now accounts for 20% of all contract sales.
T-Mobile chief executive, Jim Hyde said: ‘T-Mobile UK has maintained its strategy of customer acquisition, focusing on its core contract customer base and other targeted segments including mobile broadband.
‘The successful launch of the Android-based G1 in October and the ongoing demand for mobile broadband services had a positive impact on the latter half of 2008. Our new Life is for Sharing advertising campaign launched last month and sets us in good stead to significantly increase the value of our brand in 2009.’
The company lost 16,000 customers in the fourth quarter, leaving a total base of 16.788 million at year-end, down from 17.311 million in 2007.
However, T-Mobile’s contract customer base grew by 4.5% to 4 million, while its prepay customers fell 5.2% to 12.7 million, compared to 13.4 million a year earlier.