Cingular Wireless L.L.C. said it added 428,000 new customers during the second quarter, which was short of the 540,000 subscribers the carrier added during the second quarter of 2003, but ended the first half of this year with more than 25 million total wireless subscribers. The carrier explained that gross customer additions escalated throughout the quarter to a total of 2.4 million, but an increase in customer churn from 2.5 percent last year to 2.7 percent this year contributed to the reduction in net customer additions.
Average revenue per user dropped year-over-year from $53.12 during the second quarter of 2003 to $50.32 this year despite a 110-percent increase in data revenues, including a 70-percent increase in the number of text messages sent to 1.4 billion during the second quarter of this year. Cingular also reported that total minutes of use increased more than 17 percent from 445 MOUs during the second quarter of 2003 to 523 MOUs this year.
Total service revenues increased more than 7 percent from $3.9 billion during the second quarter of 2003 to nearly $4.2 billion this year. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization dropped 1.5 percent from $1.264 billion last year to $1.245 billion this year.
