OKLAHOMA CITY-The fourth quarter of 2005 brought continuing net customer losses but higher annual revenue per user for Dobson Communications Corp, according to preliminary figures released by the company.
Dobson said it lost about 22,500 total customers during the final three months of last year; the carrier said the decline on the postpaid side was roughly 28,000. The numbers are better than Dobson’s year-ago quarter, when 25,600 net subscribers dropped Dobson and 33,100 of its postpaid customers took off.
Dobson said that its postpaid customer churn rate was about 2.62 percent, compared with 2.35 percent for the same quarter in 2004. However, the churn rate was better than some analysts had expected, considering the 2.82 percent churn Dobson reported for the third quarter of 2005.
The company’s ARPU bounced up to $46.10 from last year’s $42.17, and with about 67 percent of the carrier’s 1.5 million customers now on GSM calling plans, roaming minutes of use hit 584 million for the 2005 fourth quarter. That figure reflects a 46-percent increase over (pro forma) MOUs for the fourth quarter of 2004 of 399 million.
Dobson said it expects roaming yield of about 10.8 cents per minute for the fourth quarter, in line with its predictions.
Dobson, which owns wireless operations in 16 states, said it plans to report official fourth quarter figures in late February.
