On the surface, the financial results looked great.
Total sales rose to $895.6 million from $686.7 million in the third quarter a year ago.
Profit jumped to $73.6 million, or 21 cents per share, from $44.9 million, or 13 cents per share.
MetroPCS ended the quarter with 6.3 million subscribers, up from 4.8 million a year ago.
But chief executive Roger Lindquist said the number of new customers was "below our expectations," and the rate at which customers left for another provider rose to 5.8 percent from 4.8 percent a year ago.
Competitors such as Boost Mobile ate into MetroPCS' results, as did the weak economy.
MetroPCS lowered its estimate of the net number of customers it expects to add this year. The company now expects to add between 1 million and 1.2 million customers, down from a previous estimate of 1.4 million to 1.7 million.
Shares of MetroPCS lost 61 cents, or 9.2 percent, to close at $6.01.
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