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T-Mobile out with better than expected results. As always, we are joined by T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert. Mike, always nice to get some time with you. Earnings coming in ahead of expectations. I thought, uh, there's so much talk about their markets are volatile, tariff concerns. Here's T-Mobile beating on earnings. Level set for us. How did you make this happen?

Well, part of the whole idea of our model, size is to be predictable, deliver durable results and to be resilient to different kinds of conditions that are happening out there. And I think you saw that again in Q1. This was actually an all-time record for T-Mobile in terms of postpaid net additions for a Q1. I mean, think about that for a minute. We've been doing this for a long time and we beat our own all-time record in Q1. So, it really shows that as the environment changes and it is, it is certainly dynamic that T-Mobile's model, because it's so differentiated and the ability to execute of this team, we're able to show up consistently with great results. And that's something that I think the whole team should be pretty proud of.

Mike, I've been talking to a lot of CEOs, as I do, especially during earnings season. I had the CEO of Procter & Gamble, John Moller tell me, uh, this morning that people are doing less laundry each week because of economic concerns. Are you seeing economic concerns in your business? And if so, what do they look like?

You know, I I don't think T-Mobile or the CEO of T-Mobile is your very best canary in the coal mine on the economy. And part of the reason for that is that customers are very dedicated to the idea of keeping their mobile connection going. I mean, we're going to find that in any kind of economic circumstance, you know, we're going to be some of the last people to see changes in behavior. Now, a couple small things around the edges. One thing we do see right now happening in a little bit in Q1 is the idea of maybe some upgrades moving forward a little bit. Upgrade rates are a little higher in the industry. Churn rates are a tiny bit marginally higher. These are around the edges, but it might show that people while they've got funds are grabbing that smartphone that they know they're going to want. And that might show some question marks that they have. But you know, we're not economics experts here and part of the reason we don't have to be is we've built a business model that's ready for whatever comes in the macro environment.

Is the macro environment and and how volatile it is, it is, is that why you have launched this five-year price lock?

Well, part of it is to make sure we remind people that we are the company that stands for value, you know? And and by the way, with people, we've always been a brand that stands up for people when they're seeking value. And if right now more people are thinking about value and they want to lock in that value, that's a great opportunity for T-Mobile to remind them who we are. You know, we are a brand that has always stood for people when they have difficult or unpredictable economic circumstances. Now, in the last few years, we have also been a brand for the people that have the best economic circumstances and want nothing but the best. It's kind of nice to be in a position where for the first time ever in the history of this industry, you can be both simultaneously, the best value and the best network.

When I saw this, uh, across the five-year price lock, I'm like, I got to ask Mike about this. Don't you have to give it all the investments you're making in your business? Don't you have to raise price to support support that? How do you hold prices for five years?

Well, it's generally been our our approach, you know, we have just recently completed or in the process of completing a set of changes to very old legacy plans that we hadn't touched in over a decade. And you know, that's something we just don't do very often. Um, our model doesn't depend on it. People have been kind of self-selecting up our rate card and that allows us to demonstrate Arpu and Arpa growth even while holding prices constant. I mean, think about this. We just guided up on Arpa, that's revenue per account and Arpu, revenue per unit for the year, three and a half and one and a half percent respectively because of beats in Q1. So people are selecting up our rate card because they want more of what T-Mobile has to offer. And that's a much better way to grow revenues than price increases.

Some chatter off that Comcast earnings call, Mike, that, uh, people might be canceling their broadband and leaning all into their phone. What do you think about that trend? And you see any of that?

It's always been the case. You know, um, for example, in our Metro by T-Mobile brand, a very significant minority of those, uh, customers have no broadband connection and never have. And so as people face economic choices, one thing is clear, they will prefer wireless. That is crystal clear. But that's been the case probably for nearly a decade now. I'm not observing any big secular changes on that front happening now, but if they were to come, mobile will be the choice people make.

I will definitely not be canceling my phone. You're going to have to pry it out of my cold dead hands. Uh, let me ask you this one. Your counterpart over at Verizon, Hans Vestberg said this on his earnings call, Mike. Listen to this. If the tariff is going to be as high as they say on handsets, we are not planning to cover that in our work. That's just not going to be possible. Is that something you agree with from a T-Mobile standpoint?

Yeah, I mean, you know, tariffs are unpredictable at this point. Obviously, we're watching closely. Um, if they come in and they're significant in some way, you know, that's going to have to be born by the customer. I mean, our model isn't prepared for something like that. Um, and I think what would happen is prices will rise for smartphones and then people will slow down their purchases of smartphones and upgrade rates will slow. Those would be the dynamics that would happen. We don't see that that's on the way. I mean, that's, you know, it's not a very predictable space, but right now we don't see big tariff flows that would materially change our business, but obviously it's a dynamic situation and we're watching it closely. We were able to reiterate our guidance today based on everything we know about the situation, but if something changes, you know, we'll obviously update the investment community as we see it.

Is anything related to tariffs in your guidance for the full year?

Nothing material and we don't expect anything material. And, you know, but we'll see what happens. I mean, so far, you know, the word is that the the big outsized tariffs aren't going to apply to smartphones. Uh, there are other places in our business where it could affect our model, but add it all up. So far, it doesn't look material.

I didn't want this to be a whole tariff interview, Mike. So you have some other exciting things going on at T-Mobile. Talk to us about T-Fiber and what does it mean to the bottom line of your company?

Well, we're excited to close our transaction with Lumos that allows us to launch T-Fiber this quarter. So later this quarter, that moves out of pilot mode and into production mode. It's a big moment for us. I mean, I remember four years ago when we launched, you know, T-Mobile high-speed internet, our broadband 5G internet offering, and nobody thought it would be a big deal. And now for 13 quarters in a row, T-Mobile has been the broadband leader in terms of growth in this country. And now we're adding fiber. And it's just an exciting moment for us, probably the start of something, you know, really great for customers.

What does that allow you to do having that service?

Make money and serve customers in new ways. I mean, our mission is to be the best in the world at connecting customers to their world. And we're a growth company. So obviously, we're attracted to the part of wireline that's growing. And we have incredible advantages here in terms of brand and distribution, trust of customers, embedded relationships, the world's best 5G network that we think allow us to get a better return, will allow us to get a better return in fiber than a purely disinterested financial investor would. And so we're interested in the space, not so much to defend our mobile business. We don't think it needs a defense, but because we can serve customers in new ways and make a great return doing so.

There's been a lot. I mean, you and I have talked about this. You've made a lot of acquisitions the past, um, or deal announcements the past 18 months. Verizon is out there making deals, AT&T kicking the tires. What do you think's driving this activity in the industry? Because I would argue, uh, many investors new to this space or even that have been in this space for a while, they haven't seen this before.

Well, part of it is the industry is really successful and I think investors sometimes can lose sight of that. You know, I get questions like, isn't it really competitive? Isn't it getting hot in the kitchen? I mean, overall cash flows in this industry are at all time highs. And it's not coming on the back of customers either. I mean, customers are getting three times more data and four times more speed per dollar they spend while cash flows in this industry over the last 12 months are 50% higher than just 2022 two and a half years ago. And so it shows you that the industry is successful and when you have the wherewithal to invest, you start looking for adjacencies that make sense. In our case, it's things that take advantage of things like our world leading 5G network, the trust we have with over 100 million customers, our incredible distribution, our T-Life application that's now in the hands of more than 60 million people who engage regularly with it. And so these are advantages that we have that allow us to serve customers in new ways. And we seek the right ways to do that, taking advantage of our know-how.