Leap Wireless International Inc. reported $205.7 million in total revenues during the third quarter of this year, which was a 6.7-percent improvement compared with the $192.9 million the carrier posted during the third quarter of 2003.
Net income also increased from a loss of $47.3 million during the third quarter of 2003, a loss of 81 cents per share, to a return of $952.1 million this year, or $16.24 per share, mostly due to a $958.2 million reorganization item reported during the third quarter of this year related to Leap’s emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Leap noted that the third-quarter net income was not “indicative of the company’s expected future performance.”
Net customer additions dropped year-over-year from 18,117 subscriber additions during the third quarter of 2003 to a loss of 7,594 customers this year. The loss was attributed to a drop in gross subscriber additions from 214,967 customers during the third quarter of 2003 to 200,315 gross subscriber additions this year and flat customer churn of 4.5 percent.
Average revenue per user fell slightly from $36.87 last year to $36.77 during the third quarter of 2004, while the cost per gross addition increased from $136 during the third quarter of 2003 to $142 this year. Leap’s cash cost per user also dropped from $22.04 last year to $18.25 during the third quarter of 2004.
Leap also revised previously reported forecasts for the full year with net customer additions upgraded from between 50,000 and 100,000 subscribers to between 70,000 and 100,000 subscribers; customer churn of between 3.8 percent and 4 percent from previous forecasts of between 3.8 percent and 4.2 percent; and total revenues of between $830 million and $835 million from the previous forecasts of between $820 million and $840 million.
In addition, the carrier released preliminary fiscal-year 2005 forecasts of between 150,000 and 200,000 net customer additions, customer churn of between 3.5 percent and 4 percent, and total consolidated revenues of between $875 million and $950 million.
