CHICAGO-Regional wireless operator U.S. Cellular Corp. said it added 150,000 net customers during the fourth quarter of last year, which was in line with estimates and ahead of the 141,000 subscribers the carrier added during the fourth quarter of 203. The year-over-year increase was boosted by an 11-percent jump in gross subscriber additions that offset an increase in postpaid customer churn from 1.4 percent during the fourth quarter of 2003 to 1.6 percent last year.
Full-year net customer additions increased more than 40 percent from 447,000 subscribers in 2003 to 627,000 net customer additions last year. U.S. Cellular said it ended 2004 with 4.95 million subscribers.
Average revenue per user dropped year-over-year during the fourth quarter from $47.80 in 2003 to $46.12 last year, while the cost per gross customer addition increased from $384 during the fourth quarter of 2003 to $442 last year.
Total revenues increased 7.7 percent from $668.1 million during the fourth quarter of 2003 to $719.5 million last year, though fell short of estimates of approximately $750 million in total revenues. Full-year revenues jumped10 percent from $2.6 billion in 2003 to $2.8 billion last year.
Fourth-quarter net income nearly doubled from $20.6 million in 2003, or 24 cents per share, to $40.5 million last year, or 47 cents per share. Full-year net income increased from $42.7 million in 2003, or a return of 49 cents per share, to $109 million last year, or $1.26 per share.
