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How much did T-Mobile (ticker TMUS) spend on wireless/network CapEx every year from 2008-2016?
Hi there! thanks for your question about T-Mobile's wireless/network capital expenditures from 2008-2016. The best resources I found to answer your question are Credit Suisse, Petrilla, and FierceWireless. The short version is that after searching extensively through government filings, industry and company reports, and trusted media sites, I have determined that not all of the information you requested is publicly available because specific breakdowns of T-Mobile's 2008 and 2016 network or wireless capital expenditures have either not been compiled or have not been released. However, I was able to learn that T-Mobile's wireless and network capital expenditures in 2009-2015 ranged from $2.729 billion to $4.7 billion. Below you will find a deep dive of my research and methodology.
METHODOLOGY
I began my search by looking for through T-Mobile's annual reports and SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), finding that while they listed the company's overall capital expenditures, no breakdowns of information were provided. I found information on their capital expenditures between 2009 and 2013 and 2014-2015 but was unable to find information regarding their 2008 or 2016 capital expenditures. Information for 2016 is unavailable because T-Mobile has not released its 2016 annual report (T-Mobile annual report link) and no additional SEC information is available. As for 2008, there are no statistics available to produce back-of-the-envelope calculations.
All of the relevant information for 2009-2015 has been compiled in the attached spreadsheet.
HELPFUL FINDINGS
While I could not find a direct answer to your question, I was able to gather some information about this topic, which I think will be helpful for your project.
--News coverage of T-Mobile's capital expenditures over time suggest that spending for 2016 was similar to 2015, following the significant increase from 2014 to 2015. According to BusinessWire's report on T-Mobile's 2015 results, T-Mobile's "capital expenditures reflect [their] continued investment in the expansion of its 4G LTE network."
--T-Mobile's total capital expenditures for 2016 are reported as $8.67 billion. While segmented information regarding the company's wireless capital expenditures is unavailable, research suggests that wireless expenditures for the year followed the increase of 2015: "T-Mobile spent $0.8 billion on capex in 4Q16 and just over $4.5 billion in fiscal 2016, excluding capitalized interest, given its front end–loaded network spending in 2016."
POSSIBLE CONTINUED RESEARCH
While I could not find a direct answer to your question, I was able to gather some information about this topic, which I think will be helpful for your project:
--What are T-Mobile's projected capital expenditures for 2017? Are there any projections suggesting a continued increase, or are they going to slow down in spending?
--There are rumors of a Sprint and T-Mobile merger. What would this merger mean for T-Mobile and Sprint, in terms of capital expenditures?
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, after searching extensively government filings, industry and company reports, and trusted media sites, I have determined that not all of the information you requested is publicly available because specific breakdowns of T-Mobile's network or wireless capital expenditures from 2008 and 2016 are not publicly available because segmented information from 2008 has not been compiled and similar information for 2016 has not been published yet. However, I was able to learn that T-Mobile's wireless and network capital expenditures ranged from $2.729 billion to $4.7 in 2009-2015.
If you’d like to continue research on any of the other topics I’ve outlined above, just let us know!