Mike Sievert
Chief Executive Officer at T-Mobile US
Okay. Thanks, Jud. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome. If you're watching online, you can see that I've got a good part of the senior team here. We're coming to you from Bellevue, Washington today, and we're looking forward to a great discussion.
And as you can see from our Q1 results, we are off to a great start in 2024. The year is unfolding right in line with what we expected across the board and in fact, better in some areas, and we're increasing our guidance for the year accordingly. I'll briefly touch on a few highlights, and then we'll get right to your questions.
First, a comment on growth. We continue to take share in Q1 just as expected, with postpaid phone net adds that were right in line with Q1 last year, while industry net adds were lower by a double-digit percentage. Our best value, best network proposition continues to resonate in the market with our postpaid phone gross adds up year-over-year for the fourth consecutive quarter, even while industry gross adds were down. And we matched our best ever Q1 postpaid phone churn showing that customers love the Un-carrier value proposition and network.
Second, a comment on those lowest ever postpaid upgrades for phones in Q1. I think this metric showcases our ongoing winning formula by demonstrating that customers choose to stay with T-Mobile for the best-in-class value and network they enjoy, which is the only retention strategy that drives profitable growth over the long-term. The network is an increasingly powerful part of our customers' loyalty as three-quarters of our postpaid phone customers already have a 5G smartphone, and they're having a differentiated experience on the T-Mobile network. It also demonstrates how we put our investments where they can have the greatest customer impact, letting natural customer demand drive the pace of upgrades.
Overall, from consumers in major metros to smaller markets and businesses from large enterprises to SMBs, T-Mobile's durable differentiated growth momentum continues across the segments. And the most exciting part is that there are still many years of market-leading growth runway ahead for our core business.
Okay, let's talk broadband. Home broadband customers love a great value on a great network too. That's been the formula that's made us the fastest-growing broadband provider for the past two years. And we did it again in Q1 as our 405,000 nets are expected to represent a higher share of industry broadband net adds than even a year ago and are expected to be more than half of all nets from the major providers once again. Our broadband strategy is unfolding exactly the way we said it would. And we now proudly serve over 5 million high-speed Internet customers.
And as we previously announced, we're also growing the value of that customer base, successfully sunsetting our launch era promotions and attracting customers at our nominal price points. In addition, our new rate plans for home mesh networks and for on-the-go usage are just the latest ways we intend to continue to enhance the value of this space and find new ways to serve customers better.
Okay, let me comment on fiber. I've been saying for a while that smart fiber partnerships would allow us to profitably serve even more broadband customers. And today, we announced a joint venture with EQT that will acquire Lumos. Consistent with everything we've said for the last year, this JV is the latest example of a capital-light model, and we're excited to have such great and experienced partners. EQT is one of the leading infrastructure investors across the US and Europe and brings a wealth of knowledge to the table.
The Lumos management team under Brian Stading is outstanding and has years of experience building fiber in an efficient, cost-effective and targeted build model. We're really excited to be able to accelerate what Lumos has already been doing to reach more and more households in the years ahead. Together, we target 3.5 million homes passed by 2028, and T-Mobile expects to invest about $950 million upon close, which we expect less than a year from now, and another $500 million between 2027 and '28 to get there.
T-Mobile will be a 50% owner of Lumos and will own the customer relationships, including their existing fiber customers at close, as Lumos will convert to a wholesale model. This is exactly the type of value-creating investment that we had contemplated with our strategic envelope of funds that we set aside back when we shared the current stockholder return program with you last fall. And we expect to remain on track as it relates to our stockholder return ambitions.
Lastly, I am so happy to report that we have received regulatory approval to acquire Mint and Ultra Mobile. And we therefore currently expect to close on May 1. We are really looking forward to welcoming them to the Un-carrier family. And I know they're going to fit in because they are hyper focused on offering customers compelling products at a great value. We'll work to further fuel their success while also learning from their team who are absolute rock stars in the direct-to-consumer and value segments.
Financially, in Q1, we again showed how T-Mobile translates profitable growth into market-leading consolidated service revenue growth and core adjusted EBITDA growth that was double the rate of our principal competitors. And T-Mobile again delivered the highest free cash flow margins in the industry.
So to wrap up. Our model is working, it's consistent and our confidence in it only builds with each passing quarter of success. We remain focused on continuing to take share in wireless and broadband while delivering industry-leading growth in service revenue, profitability and cash flows. I couldn't be more excited about what's ahead for T-Mobile.
And I want you to know that we plan to have a Capital Markets Day this fall, where we look forward to going deeper with you on topics like the big opportunities that we see coming, how we're seizing them and how that will translate into enormous value creation for our company in the years ahead. And I think you're going to see once again that in many ways, we're just getting started.
Okay. Peter, over to you to talk about our key financial highlights and an update on our guidance.