T-Mobile sees 12M 5G broadband customers by 2028; Charter, Comcast see action

Cable broadband leaders Comcast (CMCSA) and Charter (CHTR) saw a quick sell-off just after midday Wednesday as telecom rival T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) forecast heavy growth in mobile broadband.

At T-Mobile’s (TMUS) Capital Markets Day presentation, CEO Mike Sievert forecast the company would hit 12M mobile broadband customers by 2028, a goal to go along with continuing leading growth in its customer base overall.

“We will sustain our industry-leading growth,” Sievert said in discussing overall net additions. “In fact, each and every year between now and 2027 and likely beyond, T-Mobile will be the leader in postpaid net additions. This year, next year, and every year.”

As for its broadband ambitions: “We will achieve our goal of 7-8M customers on our 5G broadband by next year. And I’m pleased to announce today for the first time, that after studying this for a long time, our new goal for 5G broadband is 12M customers nationwide. And we’ll achieve that by 2028,” Sievert said.

The company would expand fiber household passings to 12M-15M by 2030 (through joint ventures and its T-Fiber brand), complementing the 5G offering, he said.

“Of course, all this is gonna result in a business that is growing even more rapidly than over the past few years. We will accelerate our service revenue [compound annual growth rate] from about 4% … to closer to 5%,” Sievert said. “And I’m very pleased to say that that’s gonna result in an annualized EBITDA by 2027 of about $10B higher than last year, at the high end of our guidance — to $39B, relative to $29B last year.”

Comcast (CMCSA) saw a quick 0.5% decline and Charter (CHTR) sold off 1% on the broadband remarks, though both stocks quickly recouped to the flat line and a 0.5% gain respectively.

For its part, T-Mobile stock (TMUS) was down 1.5% partway through its presentation.