T-Mobile Sees Revenue Decline as Nearly 500,000 More Customers Leave

Without an iPhone to sell, T-Mobile USA continues to bleed contract customers.

The No. 4 U.S. carrier said it lost 492,000 contract customers in the third quarter. That’s down slightly from the 557,000 it lost in the prior quarter, but more than the 389,000 it lost a year ago. The company blamed the iPhone 5 launch in part for the continued defections.

With the addition of Sprint last year, all three larger rivals now sell Apple’s phone.

The company saw its total revenue drop 6.4 percent, to $4.9 billion, as higher device sales partly offset a larger 8.7 percent drop in service revenue.

T-Mobile is hoping to shore up its business and improve its long-term position with a pending deal to merge with MetroPCS.