CHICAGO-U.S. Cellular Corp. reported $601.9 million in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2002, a 25.7-percent increase compared with the $478.7 million the carrier reported for the same quarter of 2001. For the year, U.S. Cellular reported a 15.3-percent increase in revenues from $1.9 billion in 2001 to $2.2 billion last year.
The increase in revenues was helped by the carrier’s Chicago launch during the fourth quarter that contributed to a jump in customer additions from 82,000 during the fourth quarter of 2001 to 160,000 net customer additions during the fourth quarter of 2002. The customer additions during the fourth quarter also pushed the carrier’s total customer base above the 4 million-subscriber mark, ending the year with 4.1 million customers.
Average revenue per user increased from $45.14 during the fourth quarter of 2001 to $47.91 last year, while postpaid customer churn remained steady at 1.8 percent.
Even with the strong customer growth, net income dropped more than 55 percent during the fourth quarter from $33 million in 2001, a return of 38 cents per share, to $14.6 million last year, a return of 17 cents per share. For the year, net income fell from $173.9 million in 2001, a return of $2.02 per share, to a loss of $14.3 million last year, a loss of 17 cents per share.
Most of the net income decline was attributed to the carrier’s Chicago network purchase and launch, which included the addition of 27 cell sites and upgrades to the network.
