Verizon Wireless posted 1.7 million net customer additions during the fourth quarter of last year, which the carrier said was its highest quarterly increase for the third consecutive quarter and a 13.5-percent improvement compared with the 1.5 million subscribers the carrier added during the fourth quarter of 2003.
The customer growth fell just short of the 1.8 million pro-forma net customer additions posted by Cingular Wireless L.L.C., which acquired AT&T Wireless Services Inc. during the fourth quarter and surpassed Verizon Wireless as the nation’s largest wireless operator.
For the full year, Verizon Wireless added nearly 6.3 million subscribers-compared with 5 million in 2003-ending 2004 with 43.8 million total customers.
Analysts noted that Verizon Wireless surpassed most forecasts of 1.6 million net customer additions during the quarter despite a drop in gross customer adds that was offset by a decrease in customer churn from 1.7 percent in 2003 to 1.4 percent last year. Full-year customer churn dropped from 1.8 percent in 2003 to 1.5 percent last year.
The decrease in customer churn was attributed to higher retention spending and marketing costs that drove both cash cost per user and cost per gross addition during the fourth quarter above forecasts. Average revenue per user increased 3 percent year-over-year during the fourth quarter to $50.32 and nearly 3 percent for the year to $50.22.
Verizon Wireless added that data services accounted for 5.6 percent of total revenues during the fourth quarter of last year compared with 3.2 percent during the fourth quarter of 2003. Verizon Wireless said it had 16.6 million data customers at the end of last year.
Wireless revenues jumped 22.7 percent year-over-year from $6 billion during the fourth quarter of 2003 to $7.3 billion last year, while full-year revenues increased 23 percent from $22.5 billion in 2003 to $27.7 billion in 2004. Net income also increased 29 percent during the fourth quarter from $307 million in 2003 to $396 million last year, while full-year net income increased 51.9 percent from $1.08 billion in 2003 to $1.65 billion last year.
