Canadian operator Telus Mobility regained the top spot in N. Moore Capital Ltd.’s ranking of North America’s top wireless operators based on a handful of second-quarter metrics. The metrics include penetration gain, customer churn, average revenue per user, cost per gross addition and pre-interest free cash flow (piFCF).
Telus Mobility posted a low score of 20 in the rankings boosted by top 10 placings in all five categories, including a first-place finish in piFCF and a pair of third-place finishes in penetration gain and churn. The carrier’s first-place ranking comes off a third-place finish for the first quarter.
Verizon Wireless’ total score of 25 was good enough for the runner-up position in the ranking. The carrier’s strong showing included a couple of first-place finishes in penetration gain and customer churn, as well as a third-place finish in CPGA.
“Since [the fourth quarter of 2002] either Verizon Wireless or Telus have finished first (or tied for first) every quarter, truly demonstrating their superior operational results in the North American wireless industry,” noted N. Moore Capital President Jeffrey Hines.
Nextel Partners Inc. just missed the No. 2 spot with a total score of 26. The carrier did not manage to lead any one category, but placed second in customer churn and ARPU as well as third in piFCF.
Bell Mobility’s fourth-place finish with a total score of 32 put a pair of Canadian operators in the top five and reinforced the strong operational performance by wireless carriers north of the border. Bell Mobility finished second in penetration gain, fourth in CPGA, fifth in churn and sixth in piFCF during the second quarter, but was held back by a last-place finish in ARPU.
While not a combined operator during the second quarter, Sprint Corp.’s and Nextel Communications Inc.’s metrics were merged in the rankings and finished with a total score of 36, which was good enough for fifth place. The carriers combined to post industry-leading ARPU, but were near the bottom of the rankings at 13th place in cost per gross addition.
The sample group’s largest operator, Cingular Wireless L.L.C., finished just inside the top half of the ranking in seventh place with a score of 38. Cingular’s first-place CPGA results were tempered by a 14th-place finish in piFCF and 10th-place finish in churn.
Overall, N. Moore Capital found that internal net customer additions increased 16.2 percent year-over-year to 5.65 million during the second quarter; ARPU dropped 1.2 percent to $54.76 despite a 15.5-percent jump in minutes of use to 710 minutes; churn improved from 2.2 percent during the second quarter of 2004 to 1.9 percent this year; and CPGA surged nearly 10 percent year-over-year to $396 during the second quarter.
