NEW YORK-Citing increased competition and challenges integrating former WorldCom Wireless customers, Lehman Brothers lowered its net customer additions guidance for AT&T Wireless Services Inc.’s third quarter from 300,000 subscribers to 65,000 customers.
Lehman Brothers analyst John Bensche said the increased competition concern was due to European sources suggesting T-Mobile USA Inc. could add as many as 1 million customers during the quarter in large part due to its recent launch in California and Nevada that are traditionally strong markets for AT&T Wireless. There is also concern that AT&T Wireless’ delayed launch of its GSM network in New York City until the fourth quarter has lowered its third-quarter net additions in the country’s largest market.
Bensche also noted AT&T Wireless is finding a larger-than-expected share of WorldCom Wireless customers to be lower quality that have resulted in an increase in customer churn from previous forecasts of 2.6 percent to 2.9 percent.
