Alltel posts strong Q4 results

Alltel Corp. posted robust wireless results for the fourth quarter and full year 2006, solidifying its position as the largest small player in the wireless space.
Alltel reported that its wireless business added 661,638 customers during the fourth quarter of last year, which was a 178-percent increase over the previous year. Most of the growth was through acquired assets that represented 433,339 of the carrier’s total customer additions during the quarter. Internal customer growth was also robust, growing 55 percent year-over-year from 147,258 net customer additions in 2005 to 228,299 customer additions during the fourth quarter of 2006.
For the full year Alltel added 1.161 million customers, which was a 43-percent drop from the previous year, though the 2005 results were bolstered by Alltel’s acquisition of Western Wireless Corp. Alltel ended the year with more than 11.6 million customers on its network.
Boosting the solid growth was a drop in customer churn from 2.2 percent during the fourth quarter of 2005 to 1.92 percent last year, and for the full year from 2.17 percent in 2005 to 2 percent last year.
Alltel also posted a 1-percent increase in average revenue per user during the fourth quarter to $52.84, while full-year ARPU increased 2 percent to $52.68.
Alltel’s total revenues jumped 13.7 percent during the fourth quarter from $1.8 billion in 2005 to $2.1 billion last year. For the full year, revenues surged 20 percent from $6.6 billion in 2005 to $7.9 billion last year.
Despite the strong revenue growth, fourth quarter earnings dropped from $255.1 million in 2005, a return of 66 cents per share, to $215.9 million last year, a return of 58 cents per share. Fourth quarter revenues were hurt by an increase in losses from discontinued operations. For the full year net income dropped from $1.3 billion in 2005, a return of $3.87 per share, to $1.1 billion last year, a return of $2.93 per share.
Alltel’s stock was trading up 2.5 percent after the news at $61.94 per share.