- T-Mobile majority owned companies with 77.4 million customers
- Very strong growth in the fourth quarter
- T-Mobile USA adds a record 4.4 m customers in 2005, 1.4 million of those in Q4
- T-Mobile Germany adds 810,000 customers in Q4 of which 246,000 are post-paid
Bonn 26 January - The mobile segment of the Deutsche Telekom group managed by T-Mobile International increased its customer base by 9 million to 86.6 million customers. 77.4 million are served by companies in which T-Mobile International has a majority share. Net customer additions at T-Mobile International were slightly higher than last year which counts for a growth rate of about 12 percent. T-Mobile USA alone added 4.4 m which accounts to more than 25 percent growth. The European operations added another 3.9 m customers.
T-Mobile Germany could maintain its leading position in the highly competitive German market by adding 2.1 m customers, 40 percent of those on a contract. 810,000 of these new customers came in the last quarter of 2005 of which 246,000 were post-paid.
T-Mobile USA had the most new customers in one year in its history. Of the 4.4 million net ads 1.4 alone accounted to the fourth quarter. Included in the Q4 number are 123,000 customers who opted for a data focused device (like BlackBerry or Sidekick) bringing the total number of active users for these devices for T-Mobile USA to 1.1 million.
T-Mobile UK saw a strong fourth quarter with 845.000 new customers, 319,000 of those on a post-paid contract bringing the total customer number to 17.2 million (all numbers including Virgin mobile).
Alltogether with its customer growth in 2005 T-Mobile beat market expectations significantly.
T-Mobile will release fourth quarter and full-year 2005 financial results on March 2, 2006.
Customers in million
| 31.12.2005 | 31.12.2004 | change in m | change in % | |
| Deutsche Telekom mobile segment | 86.6 | 77.6 | 9.0 | 11.6 |
| T-Mobile majority owned | 77.4 | 69.2 | 8.2 | 11.9 |
| T-Mobile Germany | 29.5 | 27.5 | 2.1 | 7.5 |
| T-Mobile UK* | 17.2 | 15.7 | 1.4 | 9.1 |
| T-Mobile USA | 21.7 | 17.3 | 4.4 | 25.3 |
| T-Mobile Austria | 2.1 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 2.4 |
| T-Mobile Czech Republic | 4.6 | 4.4 | 0.3 | 6.3 |
| T-Mobile Netherlands | 2.3 | 2.3 | 0.1 | 2.5 |
| T-Mobile Hungary** | 4.2 | 4.0 | 0.2 | 4.0 |
| T-Mobile Croatia** | 1.9 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 24.1 |
| T-Mobile Slovakia | 2.0 | 1.9 | 0.1 | 5.6 |
| Others*** | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 16.5 |
Notes:
*Including Virgin Mobile
**Deutsche Telekom shareholding
***Macedonia, Montenegro
About T-Mobile International
T-Mobile International is one of the world's leading companies in mobile communications. As one of Deutsche Telekom's three strategic business units, T-Mobile concentrates on the most dynamic markets in Europe and the United States. By the end of 2005, nearly 87 million mobile customers were served by companies of the Deutsche Telekom group.
And all that over a common technology platform based on GSM, the world's most successful digital wireless standard. This also makes T-Mobile the only mobile communications provider with a seamless transatlantic service.
T-Mobile also is partner of FreeMove, an alliance formed by four of Europe's leading mobile companies - Orange, Telefónica Móviles, TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile) and T-Mobile - to help their customers communicate as easily while travelling abroad as they do at home.