T-Mobile US 10-Q 2021-09-30

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

☒ QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the quarterly period ended September 30, 2021

or

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from to

Commission File Number: 1-33409

T-MOBILE US, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

12920 SE 38th Street

Bellevue, Washington

(Address of principal executive offices)

98006-1350

(Zip Code)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the issuer’s classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date.

T-Mobile US, Inc.

Form 10-Q

For the Quarter Ended September 30, 2021

Table of Contents

Index for Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

PART I. Financial Information

T-Mobile US, Inc.

Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets

(Unaudited)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.

Index for Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

T-Mobile US, Inc.

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income

(Unaudited)

Showing the first 8K of 213K characters. Open the full section

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (“Form 10-Q”) includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, including information concerning our future results of operations, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are generally identified by the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “could” or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions, which are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. The following important factors, along with the Risk Factors included in Part II, Item 1A of this Form 10-Q, could affect future results and cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements:

• natural disasters, public health crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic (the “Pandemic”), terrorist attacks or similar incidents;

• adverse economic, political or market conditions in the U.S. and international markets, including those caused by the Pandemic;

• competition, industry consolidation and changes in the market condition for wireless services;

• data loss or other security breaches, such as the criminal cyberattack we became aware of in August 2021;

• the scarcity and cost of additional wireless spectrum, and regulations relating to spectrum use;

• our inability to retain or motivate key personnel, hire qualified personnel or maintain our corporate culture;

• our inability to take advantage of technological developments on a timely basis;

• system failures and business disruptions, allowing for unauthorized use of or interference with our network and other systems;

• the impacts of the actions we have taken and conditions we have agreed to in connection with the regulatory proceedings and approvals of the Transactions (as defined below), including the acquisition by DISH Network Corporation (“DISH”) of the prepaid wireless business operated under the Boost Mobile and Sprint prepaid brands (excluding the Assurance brand Lifeline customers and the prepaid wireless customers of Shenandoah Personal Communications Company LLC (“Shentel”) and Swiftel Communications, Inc.), including customer accounts, inventory, contracts, intellectual property and certain other specified assets (the “Prepaid Business”), and the assumption of certain related liabilities (the “Prepaid Transaction”), the complaint and proposed final judgment (the “Consent Decree”) agreed to by us, Deutsche Telekom AG (“DT”), Sprint Corporation (“Sprint”), SoftBank Group Corp. (“SoftBank”) and DISH with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which was approved by the Court on April 1, 2020, the proposed commitments filed with the Secretary of the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”), which we announced on May 20, 2019, certain national security commitments and undertakings, and any other commitments or undertakings entered into, including but not limited to, those we have made to certain states and nongovernmental organizations (collectively, the “Government Commitments”), and the challenges in satisfying the Government Commitments in the required time frames and the significant cumulative cost incurred in tracking, monitoring and complying with them;

• our inability to manage the ongoing commercial and transition services arrangements that we entered into with DISH in connection with the Prepaid Transaction, which we completed on July 1, 2020, and known or unknown liabilities arising in connection therewith;

• the effects of any future acquisition, investment, or merger involving us;

• any disruption or failure of our third parties (including key suppliers) to provide products or services for the operation of our business;

• the occurrence of high fraud rates or volumes related to device financing, customer payment cards, third-party dealers, employees, subscriptions, identities or account takeover fraud;

• our substantial level of indebtedness and our inability to service our debt obligations in accordance with their terms or to comply with the restrictive covenants contained therein;

• adverse changes in the ratings of our debt securities or adverse conditions in the credit markets;

• the risk of future material weaknesses we may identify while we work to integrate and align policies, principles and practices of the two companies following the Merger (as defined below), or any other failure by us to maintain effective internal controls, and the resulting significant costs and reputational damage;

• any changes in regulations or in the regulatory framework under which we operate;

• laws and regulations relating to the handling of privacy and data protection;

Table of Contents

• unfavorable outcomes of existing or future legal proceedings, including these proceedings and inquiries relating to the criminal cyberattack we became aware of in August 2021;

• our offering of regulated financial services products and exposure to a wide variety of state and federal regulations;

• new or amended tax laws or regulations or administrative interpretations and judicial decisions affecting the scope or application of tax laws or regulations;

• the possibility that we may be unable to renew our spectrum leases on attractive terms or the possible revocation of our existing licenses in the event that we violate applicable laws;

• interests of our significant stockholders that may differ from the interests of other stockholders;

• future sales of our common stock by DT and SoftBank and our inability to attract additional equity financing outside the United States due to foreign ownership limitations by the FCC;

• the volatility of our stock price and our lack of plan to pay cash dividends in the foreseeable future;

• failure to realize the expected benefits and synergies of the merger (the “Merger”) with Sprint, pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement with Sprint and the other parties named therein (as amended, the “Business Combination Agreement”) and the other transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement (collectively, the “Transactions”) in the expected time frames or in the amounts anticipated;

• any delay and costs of, or difficulties in, integrating our business and Sprint’s business and operations, and unexpected additional operating costs, customer loss and business disruptions, including challenges in maintaining relationships with employees, customers, suppliers or vendors;

• unanticipated difficulties, disruption, or significant delays in our long-term strategy to migrate Sprint’s legacy customers onto T-Mobile’s existing billing platforms; and

• changes to existing or the issuance of new accounting standards by the Financial Accounting Standards Board or other regulatory agencies.

Given these risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. In this Form 10-Q, unless the context indicates otherwise, references to “T-Mobile,” “our Company,” “the Company,” “we,” “our,” and “us” refer to T-Mobile US, Inc. as a stand-alone company prior to April 1, 2020, the date we completed the Merger with Sprint, and on and after April 1, 2020, refer to the combined company as a result of the Merger.

Investors and others should note that we announce material information to our investors using our investor relations website (https://investor.t-mobile.com), newsroom website (https://t-mobile.com/news), press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and w

Showing the first 8K of 219K characters. Open the full section

There have been no material changes to the interest rate risk as previously disclosed in Part II, Item 7A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

We maintain disclosure controls and procedures designed to ensure information required to be disclosed in our periodic reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act, is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Our disclosure controls include the use of a Disclosure Committee which is comprised of representatives from our Accounting, Legal, Treasury, Technology, Risk Management, Government Affairs and Investor Relations functions and are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, we carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures, as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act. Based upon that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective, as of the end of the period covered by this Form 10-Q.

Table of Contents

The certifications required by Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”) are filed as Exhibits 31.1 and 31.2, respectively, to this Form 10-Q.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting, as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act, during our most recently completed fiscal quarter that materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect our internal control over financial reporting.

PART II. OTHER INFORMATION

Item 1. Legal Proceedings

For more information regarding the legal proceedings in which we are involved, see Note 2 - Business Combinations and Note 13 – Commitments and Contingencies of the Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

Other than the updated risk factors below, there have been no material changes in our risk factors as previously disclosed in Part I, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Our Fifth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain actions and proceedings, which could limit the ability of our stockholders to obtain a judicial forum of their choice for disputes with the Company or its directors, officers or employees.

Our Fifth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (the “Certificate of Incorporation”) provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware shall be the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of the Company, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or employee of the Company to the Company or its stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, the Certificate of Incorporation or the Company's bylaws or (iv) any other action asserting a claim arising under, in connection with, and governed by the internal affairs doctrine. This choice of forum provision does not waive our compliance with our obligations under the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Moreover, the provision does not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or by the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

This choice of forum provision may increase costs to bring a claim, discourage claims or limit a stockholder's ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that the stockholder finds favorable for disputes with the Company or its directors, officers or employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against the Company and its directors, officers and employees, even though an action, if successful, might benefit our stockholders. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could increase our costs of litigation and adversely affect our business and financial condition.

Our business and Sprint’s business may not be integrated successfully or such integration may be more difficult, time consuming or costly than expected. Operating costs, customer loss and business disruptions, including challenges in maintaining relationships with employees, customers, suppliers or vendors, may be greater than expected.

The combination of two independent businesses is complex, costly and time-consuming, and may divert significant management attention and resources. This process may disrupt our business or otherwise impact our ability to compete. The overall combination of our and Sprint’s businesses may also result in material unanticipated problems, expenses, liabilities, competitive responses and impacts, and loss of customers and other business relationships. The difficulties of combining the operations of the companies include, among others:

• diversion of management attention to integration matters;

• difficulties in integrating operations and systems, including intellectual property and communications systems, administrative and information technology infrastructure, and supplier and vendor arrangements;

• challenges in conforming standards, controls, procedures and accounting and other policies;

• alignment of key performance measurements may result in a greater need to communicate and manage clear expectations while we work to integrate and align policies and practices;

• difficulties in integrating employees;

• the transition of management to the combined company management team, and the need to address possible differences in corporate cultures, management philosophies, and compensation structures;

• challenges in retaining existing customers and obtaining new customers;

• difficulties in managing the expanded operations of a significantly larger and more complex company;

• any disruptions to the operations and business in the Shentel service area following the Company’s acquisition of Wireless Assets (as defined in Note 2 – Business Combinations of the Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements) as a result of the transition of such assets to the Company;

• compliance with Government Commitments relating to national security;

• known or potential unknown liabilities of Sprint that are larger than expected; and

• other potential adverse consequences and unforeseen increased expenses or liabilities associated with the Transactions.

Additionally, uncertainties over the integration process could cause customers, suppliers, distributors, dealers, retailers and others to seek to change or cancel our existing business relationships or to refuse to renew existing relationships. Suppliers, distributors and content and application providers may also delay or cease developing new products for us that are necessary for the operations of our business due to uncertainties. Competitors may also target our existing customers by highlighting potential uncertainties and integration difficulties.

Some of these factors are outside our control, and any one of them could result in lower revenues, higher costs and diversion of management time and energy, which could adversely impact our business, financial condition and operating results. In addition, even if the integration is successful, the full benefits of the Transactions including, among others, the synergies, cost savings or sales or growth opportunities may not be realized within the anticipated time frames or at all.

We have recently experienced a criminal cyberattack and could in the future be further harmed by disruption, data loss or other security breaches, whether directly or indirectly.

Our business involves the receipt, storage and transmission of our customers’ confidential information, including sensitive personal information and payment card information, confidential information about our employees and suppliers, and other sensitive information about our Company, such as our business plans, transactions and intellectual property (collectively, “Confidential Information”). Unauthorized access to Confidential Information is difficult to anticipate, detect or prevent, particularly given that the methods of unauthorized access constantly change and evolve. We and our third-party service providers are subject to attacks and threats to our and their IT networks, systems and supply chain, including attacks and threats by state-sponsored parties, malicious actors, employees or third parties, who may exploit bugs, errors, misconfigurations or other vulnerabilities that can compromise the confidentiality and integrity of Confidential Information or cause serious operational disruptions (e.g., ransomware).

As a telecommunications carrier, we are considered a critical infrastructure provider and therefore are likely to be the target of cyberattacks (e.g., denial of service and other malicious attacks). In addition, the Pandemic has presented additional operational and cybersecurity risks to our IT systems due to work-from-home arrangements at the Company and our providers. Attacks against companies like ours are perpetrated by a variety of groups or persons, including those in jurisdictions where law enforcement measures to address such attacks are ineffective or unavailable, and such attacks may even be perpetrated by or at the behest of foreign governments.

In addition, we provide confidential, proprietary and personal information to third-party service providers as part of our business operations. These third-party service providers have experienced data breaches and other attacks that included unauthorized access to Confidential Information and operational disruptions in the past, and face security challenges common to all parties that collect and process information.

In August 2021, we disclosed that our systems were subject to a criminal cyberattack that compromised the data of millions of our current customers, former customers, and prospective customers, including, in some instances, social security numbers, names, addresses, dates of birth and driver’s license/identification numbers. With the assistance of outside cybersecurity experts, we located and closed the unauthorized access to our systems and identified current, former and prospective customers whose information was impacted and notified them, consistent with state and federal requirements. We have incurred certain cyberattack-related expenses and expect to continue to incur additional expenses in future periods, including costs to investigate and remediate the attack, send notifications to customers and provide additional customer support and enhance customer protection. For more information, see “Cyberattack” in the Overview section of MD&A. As a result of this cyberattack, we are subject to numerous lawsuits and regulatory inquiries, the ongoing costs of which may be material, and we may be subject to further regulatory inquiries and private litigation. For more information, see “– Contingencies and Litigation – Litigation and Regulatory Matters” in Note 13 – Commitments and Contingencies of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements, and “– Unfavorable outcomes of legal proceedings may adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition, cash flows and operating results” below. As a result of this cyberattack or other cyberattacks or security breaches involving our Company or our third-party suppliers, we may incur significant costs or experience other material financial impacts, which may not be covered by, or may exceed the coverage limits of, our cyber insurance, and such costs and impacts may have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition, cash flows and operating results.

In addition to the August 2021 cyberattack, we have previously experienced other incidents involving unauthorized access to certain Confidential Information, and we expect to experience cyberattacks and other cybersecurity incidents in the future.

Typically, these incidents have involved attempts to commit fraud by taking control of a customer’s phone line. In other cases, the incidents have also involved unauthorized access to certain of our customers’ private information, including credit card information, financial data, social security numbers or passwords.

Our procedures and safeguards to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data and to defend against attacks seeking to disrupt our services must be continually evaluated and revised to address the ever-evolving threat landscape and changing cybersecurity regulations, which could require the investment of significant resources. We cannot make assurances that all preventive actions taken will adequately repel a significant attack or prevent security breaches or misuses of data, unauthorized access by third parties or employees or exploits against third-party supplier environments, or that we or our third-party suppliers will be able to effectively identify, investigate or remediate such incidents. We expect to continue to be the target of cyberattacks, data breaches or security incidents, given the nature of our business. Any future cyberattacks, data breaches, or security incidents may have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition, cash flows and operating results.

Unfavorable outcomes of legal proceedings may adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition, cash flows and operating results.

We and our affiliates are involved in various disputes, governmental and/or regulatory inspections, investigations and proceedings and litigation matters. Such legal proceedings can be complex, costly, and highly disruptive to our business operations by diverting the attention and energy of management and other key personnel.

In connection with the Transactions, it is possible that stockholders of T-Mobile and/or Sprint may file putative class action lawsuits or shareholder derivative actions against the Company and the legacy T-Mobile board of directors and/or the legacy Sprint board of directors. Among other remedies, these stockholders could seek damages. The outcome of any litigation is uncertain and any such potential lawsuits could result in substantial costs and may be costly and distracting to management.

Additionally, on April 1, 2020, in connection with the closing of the Merger, we assumed the contingencies and litigation matters of Sprint. Those matters include a wide variety of disputes, claims, government agency investigations and enforcement actions and other proceedings, including, among other things, certain ongoing FCC and state government agency investigations into Sprint’s Lifeline program. In September 2019, Sprint notified the FCC that it had claimed monthly subsidies for serving customers even though those customers may not have met usage requirements under Sprint’s usage policy for the Lifeline program due to an inadvertent coding issue in the system used to identify qualifying customer usage that occurred in July 2017 while the system was being updated. Sprint has made a number of payments to reimburse the federal government and certain states for excess subsidy payments. Unfavorable resolution of these matters could require making additional reimbursements and paying additional fines and penalties.

On February 28, 2020, we received a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture and Admonishment from the FCC, which proposed a penalty against us for allegedly violating Section 222 of the Communications Act and the FCC’s regulations governing the privacy of customer information. We recorded an accrual for an estimated payment amount as of March 31, 2020, which was included in Accounts payable and accrued liabilities in our Consolidated Balance Sheets.

As a result of the August 2021 cyberattack, we are subject to numerous lawsuits, including multiple class action lawsuits seeking unspecified monetary damages, and inquiries by various government agencies, law enforcement and other governmental authorities, and we may be subject to further regulatory inquiries and private litigation. We are cooperating fully with regulators and vigorously defending against the class action and other lawsuits. In light of the inherent uncertainties involved in these proceedings and inquiries, as of the date of this Quarterly Report, we have not recorded any accruals for losses related to these proceedings and inquiries, as any such amounts are not yet probable or estimable. We believe it is reasonably possible that we could incur losses associated with these proceedings and inquiries, and we will continue to evaluate information as it becomes known and will record an estimate for losses at the time or times when it is both probable that a loss has been incurred and the amount of the loss is reasonably estimable. Ongoing legal and other costs related to these proceedings and inquiries, as well as any potential future proceedings and inquiries, may be substantial, and losses associated with any adverse judgments, settlements, penalties or other resolutions of such proceedings and inquiries could be significant and have a material adverse impact on our business, reputation, financial condition, cash flows and operating results.

We, along with equipment manufacturers and other carriers, are subject to current and potential future lawsuits alleging adverse health effects arising from the use of wireless handsets or from wireless transmission equipment such as cell towers. In addition, the FCC has from time to time gathered data regarding wireless device emissions, and its assessment of the risks associated with using wireless devices may evolve based on its findings. Any of these allegations or changes in risk assessments could result in customers purchasing fewer devices and wireless services, could result in significant legal and regulatory

liability, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition, cash flows and operating results.

The assessment of the outcome of legal proceedings, including our potential liability, if any, is a highly subjective process that requires judgments about future events that are not within our control. The amounts ultimately received or paid upon settlement or pursuant to final judgment, order or decree may differ materially from amounts accrued in our financial statements. In addition, litigation or similar proceedings could impose restraints on our current or future manner of doing business. Such potential outcomes including judgments, awards, settlements or orders could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition, cash flows and operating results.

Our business may be impacted by new or amended tax laws or regulations or administrative interpretations and judicial decisions affecting the scope or application of tax laws or regulations**.**

In connection with the products and services we sell, we calculate, collect, and remit various federal, state, and local taxes, fees and regulatory charges (“tax” or “taxes”) to numerous federal, state and local governmental authorities, including federal and state USF contributions and common carrier regulatory charges and public safety fees. In addition, we incur and pay state and local transaction taxes and fees on purchases of goods and services used in our business.

Tax laws are dynamic and subject to change as new laws are passed and new interpretations of the law are issued or applied. In many cases, the application of existing, newly enacted or amended tax laws (such as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act of 2020 or the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017) may be uncertain and subject to different interpretations, especially when evaluated against new technologies and telecommunications services, such as broadband internet access and cloud related services and in the context of our recent merger with Sprint. Legislative changes, administrative interpretations and judicial decisions affecting the scope or application of tax laws could also impact revenue reported and taxes due on tax inclusive plans.

In the event that T-Mobile, including pre-acquisition Sprint, has incorrectly described, disclosed, determined, calculated, assessed, or remitted amounts that were due to governmental authorities, we could be subject to additional taxes, fines, penalties, or other adverse actions, which could materially impact our business, financial condition and operating results. In the event that federal, state, and/or local municipalities were to significantly increase taxes and regulatory or public safety charges on our network, operations, or services, or seek to impose new taxes or charges, such as a proposed corporate minimum tax or new limits on interest deductibility, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds

None.

Item 3. Defaults Upon Senior Securities

None.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

None.

None.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.