| Commitments and Contingencies | Note 13 – Commitments and Contingencies Purchase Commitments We have commitments for non-dedicated transportation lines with varying expiration terms that generally extend through 2038. In addition, we have commitments to purchase wireless devices, network services, equipment, software, marketing sponsorship agreements and other items in the ordinary course of business, with various terms through 2043. Our purchase commitments are approximately $4.7 billion for the 12-month period ending September 30, 2024, $4.3 billion in total for both of the 12-month periods ending September 30, 2025 and 2026, $2.7 billion in total for both of the 12-month periods ending September 30, 2027 and 2028, and $2.3 billion in total thereafter. These amounts are not reflective of our entire anticipated purchases under the related agreements but are determined based on the non-cancelable quantities or termination amounts to which we are contractually obligated. On March 9, 2023, we entered into a Merger and Unit Purchase Agreement for the acquisition of 100% of the outstanding equity of Ka’ena Corporation and its subsidiaries including, among others, Mint Mobile LLC, for a maximum purchase price of $1.35 billion to be paid out 39% in cash and 61% in shares of T-Mobile common stock. Our estimate of the upfront payment is subject to Ka’ena Corporation’s underlying business performance and the timing of transaction close, and has been updated to $1.2 billion, before working capital adjustments. The agreement remains subject to regulatory approval, and the estimated purchase price is excluded from our reported purchase commitments above. See Note 2 – Business Combination for additional details. Spectrum Leases We lease spectrum from various parties. These leases include service obligations to the lessors. Certain spectrum leases provide for minimum lease payments, additional charges, renewal options and escalation clauses. Leased spectrum agreements have varying expiration terms that generally extend through 2050. We expect that all renewal periods in our spectrum leases will be exercised by us. Certain spectrum leases also include purchase options and right-of-first refusal clauses in which we are provided the opportunity to exercise our purchase option if the lessor receives a purchase offer from a third party. The purchase of the leased spectrum is at our option and therefore the option price is not included in the commitments below. Our spectrum lease and service credit commitments, including renewal periods, are approximately $303 million for the 12-month period ending September 30, 2024, $602 million in total for both of the 12-month periods ending September 30, 2025 and 2026, $666 million in total for both of the 12-month periods ending September 30, 2027 and 2028, and $4.4 billion in total thereafter. On August 8, 2022, we entered into License Purchase Agreements to acquire spectrum in the 600 MHz band from Channel 51 License Co LLC and LB License Co, LLC in exchange for total cash consideration of $3.5 billion. The licenses are currently being utilized by us through exclusive leasing arrangements with the Sellers. On March 30, 2023, we and the Sellers entered into Amended and Restated License Purchase Agreements pursuant to which we and the Sellers agreed to separate the transaction into two tranches of licenses, with the closings on the acquisitions of certain licenses in Chicago, Dallas and New Orleans being deferred in order to potentially expedite the regulatory approval process for the remainder of the licenses. Subsequently, on August 25, 2023, we and the Sellers entered into Amendments No. 1 to the Amended and Restated License Purchase Agreements, which deferred the closings of certain additional licenses in Chicago and Dallas into the second closing tranche. Together, the licenses with closings deferred into the second closing tranche represent approximately $1.1 billion of the aggregate $3.5 billion cash consideration. The agreements remain subject to regulatory approval and are excluded from our reported purchase commitments above. See Note 5 – Spectrum License Transactions for additional details. On September 12, 2023, we entered into a License Purchase Agreement with Comcast pursuant to which we will acquire spectrum in the 600 MHz band from Comcast in exchange for total cash consideration of between $1.2 billion and $3.3 billion, subject to an application for FCC approval. The licenses are subject to an exclusive leasing arrangement between us and Comcast entered into contemporaneously with the License Purchase Agreement. The agreement remains subject to regulatory approval and is excluded from our reported purchase commitments above. See Note 5 – Spectrum License Transactions for additional details. Merger Commitments In connection with the regulatory proceedings and approvals of the Merger pursuant to a 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”) we have commitments and other obligations to various state and federal agencies and certain nongovernmental organizations, including pursuant to the Consent Decree agreed to by us, DT, Sprint, SoftBank and DISH and entered by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and the FCC’s memorandum opinion and order approving our applications for approval of the Merger. These commitments and obligations include, among other things, extensive 5G network build-out commitments, obligations to deliver high-speed wireless services to the vast majority of Americans, including Americans residing in rural areas, and the marketing of an in-home broadband product where spectrum capacity is available. Other commitments relate to national security, pricing, service, employment and support of diversity initiatives. Many of the commitments specify time frames for compliance and reporting. Failure to fulfill our obligations and commitments in a timely manner could result in substantial fines, penalties, or other legal and administrative actions. Contingencies and Litigation Litigation and Regulatory Matters We are involved in various lawsuits and disputes, claims, government agency investigations and enforcement actions, and other proceedings (“Litigation and Regulatory Matters”) that arise in the ordinary course of business, which include claims of patent infringement (most of which are asserted by non-practicing entities primarily seeking monetary damages), class actions, and proceedings to enforce FCC or other government agency rules and regulations. Those Litigation and Regulatory Matters are at various stages, and some of them may proceed to trial, arbitration, hearing, or other adjudication that could result in fines, penalties, or awards of monetary or injunctive relief in the coming 12 months if they are not otherwise resolved. We have established an accrual with respect to certain of these matters, where appropriate. The accruals are reflected on our condensed consolidated financial statements, but they are not considered to be, individually or in the aggregate, material. An accrual is established when we believe it is both probable that a loss has been incurred and an amount can be reasonably estimated. For other matters, where we have not determined that a loss is probable or because the amount of loss cannot be reasonably estimated, we have not recorded an accrual due to various factors typical in contested proceedings, including, but not limited to, uncertainty concerning legal theories and their resolution by courts or regulators, uncertain damage theories and demands, and a less than fully developed factual record. For Litigation and Regulatory Matters that may result in a contingent gain, we recognize such gains on our condensed consolidated financial statements when the gain is realized or realizable. We recognize legal costs expected to be incurred in connection with Litigation and Regulatory Matters as they are incurred. Except as otherwise specified below, we do not expect that the ultimate resolution of these Litigation and Regulatory Matters, individually or in the aggregate, will have a material adverse effect on our financial position, but we note that an unfavorable outcome of some or all of the specific matters identified below or other matters that we are or may become involved in could have a material adverse impact on results of operations or cash flows for a particular period. This assessment is based on our current understanding of relevant facts and circumstances. As such, our view of these matters is subject to inherent uncertainties and may change in the future. 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. In the first quarter of 2020, we recorded an accrual for an estimated payment amount. We maintained the accrual as of September 30, 2023, and that accrual was included in Accounts payable and accrued liabilities on our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. 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. These matters include, 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 subscribers even though these subscribers 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 subscriber 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. We note that pursuant to Amendment No. 2, dated as of February 20, 2020, to the Business Combination Agreement, dated as of April 29, 2018, by and among the Company, Sprint and the other parties named therein, SoftBank agreed to indemnify us against certain specified matters and losses, including those relating to the Lifeline matters described above. Resolution of these matters could require us to make additional reimbursements and pay additional fines and penalties, which we do not expect to have a significant impact on our financial results. We expect that any additional liabilities related to these indemnified matters would be indemnified and reimbursed by SoftBank. On June 1, 2021, a putative shareholder class action and derivative lawsuit was filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery, Dinkevich v. Deutsche Telekom AG, et al. , Case No. C.A. No. 2021-0479, against DT, SoftBank and certain of our current and former officers and directors, asserting breach of fiduciary duty claims relating to the repricing amendment to the Business Combination Agreement, and to SoftBank’s monetization of its T-Mobile shares. We are also named as a nominal defendant in the case. We are unable to predict the potential outcome of these claims. On August 12, 2021, we became aware of a cybersecurity issue involving unauthorized access to T-Mobile’s systems (the “August 2021 cyberattack”). We immediately began an investigation and engaged cybersecurity experts to assist with the assessment of the incident and to help determine what data was impacted. Our investigation uncovered that the perpetrator had illegally gained access to certain areas of our systems on or about March 18, 2021, but only gained access to and took data of current, former, and prospective customers beginning on or about August 3, 2021. With the assistance of our 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 also undertook a number of other measures to demonstrate our continued support and commitment to data privacy and protection. We also coordinated with law enforcement. Our forensic investigation is complete, and we believe we have a full view of the data compromised. As a result of the August 2021 cyberattack, we have become subject to numerous lawsuits, including mass arbitration claims and multiple class action lawsuits that have been filed in numerous jurisdictions seeking, among other things, unspecified monetary damages, costs and attorneys’ fees arising out of the August 2021 cyberattack. In December 2021, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated the federal class action lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri under the caption In re: T-Mobile Customer Data Security Breach Litigation , Case No. 21-md-3019-BCW. On July 22, 2022, we entered into an agreement to settle the lawsuit. On June 29, 2023, the Court issued an order granting final approval of the settlement, which is subject to potential appeals. Under the terms of the settlement, we would pay an aggregate of $350 million to fund claims submitted by class members, the legal fees of plaintiffs’ counsel and the costs of administering the settlement. We would also commit to an aggregate incremental spend of $150 million for data security and related technology in 2022 and 2023. We previously paid $35 million for claims administration purposes. On July 31, 2023, a class member filed an appeal to the final approval order challenging the Court’s award of attorneys’ fees to class counsel. We expect the remaining portion of the $350 million settlement payment to fund claims to be made once that appeal is resolved. We anticipate that, upon exhaustion of any appeals, the settlement will provide a full release of all claims arising out of the August 2021 cyberattack by class members who do not opt out, against all defendants, including us, our subsidiaries and affiliates, and our directors and officers. The settlement contains no admission of liability, wrongdoing or responsibility by any of the defendants. We have the right to terminate the settlement agreement under certain conditions. We anticipate that this settlement of the class action, along with other settlements of separate consumer claims that have been previously completed or are currently pending, will resolve substantially all of the claims brought to date by our current, former and prospective customers who were impacted by the 2021 cyberattack. In connection with the proposed class action settlement and the separate settlements, we recorded a total pre-tax charge of approximately $400 million in the second quarter of 2022. During each of the nine months ended September 30, 2023 and 2022, we recognized $50 million in reimbursements from insurance carriers for costs incurred related to the August 2021 cyberattack, which is included as a reduction to Selling, general and administrative expenses on our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income. The ultimate resolution of the class action depends on the number of plaintiffs who opt-out of the proposed settlement and whether the proposed settlement will be appealed. In addition, in September 2022, a purported Company shareholder filed a derivative action in the Delaware Chancery Court under the caption Harper v. Sievert et al., Case No. 2022-0819-SG, against our current directors and certain of our former directors, alleging claims for breach of fiduciary duty relating to the Company’s cybersecurity practices. We are also named as a nominal defendant in the lawsuit. We are unable at this time to predict the potential outcome of this lawsuit or whether we may be subject to further private litigation. We have also received inquiries from various government agencies, law enforcement and other governmental authorities related to the August 2021 cyberattack which could result in substantial fines or penalties. We are cooperating fully with these agencies and regulators and working with them to resolve these matters. While we hope to resolve them in the near term, we cannot predict the timing or outcome of any of these matters, or whether we may be subject to further regulatory inquiries, investigations, or enforcement actions. In light of the inherent uncertainties involved in such matters and based on the information currently available to us, in addition to the previously recorded pre-tax charge of approximately $400 million noted above, we believe it is reasonably possible that we could incur additional 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 actions, may be substantial, and losses associated with any adverse judgments, settlements, penalties or other resolutions of such proceedings and inquiries could be material to our business, reputation, financial condition, cash flows and operating results. On June 17, 2022, plaintiffs filed a putative antitrust class action complaint in the Northern District of Illinois, Dale et al. v. Deutsche Telekom AG, et al. , Case No. 1:22-cv-03189, against DT, T-Mobile, and SoftBank, alleging that the Merger violated the antitrust laws and harmed competition in the U.S. retail cell service market. Plaintiffs seek injunctive relief and trebled monetary damages on behalf of a purported class of AT&T and Verizon customers who plaintiffs allege paid artificially inflated prices due to the Merger. We intend to vigorously defend this lawsuit, but we are unable to predict the potential outcome. On January 5, 2023, we identified that a bad actor was obtaining data through a single Application Programming Interface (“API”) without authorization. Based on our investigation, the impacted API is only able to provide a limited set of customer account data, including name, billing address, email, phone number, date of birth, T-Mobile account number and information such as the number of lines on the account and plan features. The result from our investigation indicates that the bad actor(s) obtained data from this API for approximately 37 million current postpaid and prepaid customer accounts, though many of these accounts did not include the full data set. We believe that the bad actor first retrieved data through the impacted API starting on or around November 25, 2022. We have notified individuals whose information was impacted consistent with state and federal requirements. In connection with the January 2023 cyberattack, we became subject to consumer class actions and regulatory inquires, to which we will continue to respond in due course and may incur significant expenses. However, we cannot predict the timing or outcome of any of these potential matters, or whether we may be subject to additional legal proceedings, claims, regulatory inquiries, investigations, or enforcement actions. In addition, we are unable to predict the full impact of this incident on customer behavior in the future, including whether a change in our customers’ behavior could negatively impact our results of operations on an ongoing basis, although we presently do not expect that it will have a material effect on our operations. |
