MEXICO CITY-Prepaid wireless reseller Tracfone Wireless Inc., which is owned by America Movil S.A. de C.V., said it added 551,000 subscribers during the fourth quarter of last year and 1.4 million subscribers for the full year, bringing its subscriber base to 4.4 million at the end of 2004. The company also reported that customer churn remained stable year-over-year during the fourth quarter at 4.4 percent.
Average revenue per user dropped more than 25 percent from $19 during the fourth quarter of 2003 to $14 last year despite an 11.4-percent increase in average minutes of use from 54 minutes during the fourth quarter of 2003 to 61 minutes last year.
Total revenues also increased 33.8 percent from $167 million during the fourth quarter of 2003 to $223 million last year, while full-year revenues jumped 43.9 percent from $547 million in 2003 to $787 million last year. Tracfone also noted that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization dropped more than 91 percent from $25 million during the fourth quarter of 2003 to $2 million last year due to an increase in subscriber acquisition costs.
