BONN, Germany-T-Mobile International reported increasing revenue and customer additions in the first half of 2002, although average revenue per user (ARPU) figures increased in only two markets. T-Mobile said group sales were up 53 percent compared with the same period of 2001 to 9.1 billion euros (US$8.9 billion).
In the United Kingdom, ARPU increased from 24 euros (US$23.50) in the first half of last year to 28 euros (US$27.50) this year, with T-Mobile Austria seeing ARPU grow to 29 euros (US$28.40) from 27 euros (US$26.40) in the same period last year. T-Mobile Deutschland saw its ARPU figure remain the same at 24 euros.
“The continuous improvement of all important financial indicators show that we are on the right track in the USA and also in Europe,” said T-Mobile Chief Financial Officer Thomas G. Winkler. “In the second quarter, we were also able to prove that customer growth and an increase in profitability really can be combined.”
T-Mobile’s U.S. subsidiary VoiceStream helped drive the global operator’s customer growth. Prepaid users declined by 166,0000 users in the second quarter, while the overall number of customers increased by 526,000 to more than 8 million total users. Contract customers now comprise 80 percent of VoiceStream’s customer base. VoiceStream sales in the first half of 2002 reached nearly 2.8 billion euros (US$2.7 billion).
VoiceStream’s ARPU decreased to 51 euros (US$50) from 57 euros (US$55.90) during the same period last year, but its churn also decreased from 4.5 percent in the first half of 2001 to 4.3 percent in the first half of this year. Subscriber acquisition costs also decreased from 263 euros (US$258) last year to 223 euros (US$219) this year.
T-Mobile upped its market share by about 1 percent in both Germany and the United Kingdom.
