T-Mobile USA Inc. posted 1.1 million net customer additions during the second quarter of this year, which was the third straight quarter the carrier posted more than 1 million net customer additions and was nearly double the 606,000 subscribers the carrier added during the second quarter of 2003. The carrier noted 86 percent of its reported customer growth included postpaid customers, which currently comprise 89 percent of the carrier’s customer base.
T-Mobile USA’s second-quarter customer growth trailed only Verizon Wireless’ 1.5 million net customer additions for the quarter and pushed T-Mobile USA’s total customer base to 15.4 million total subscribers.
Customer churn improved from 3 percent during the second quarter of 2003 and first quarter of this year to 2.8 percent during the second quarter. Average revenue per user also improved from $53 during the second quarter of 2003 to $55 this year, which T-Mobile USA attributed to continued growth in data revenues that accounted for 5 percent of postpaid ARPU during the quarter compared with 4.5 percent during the first quarter of this year.
The cost per gross customer addition dropped from $332 during the second quarter of 2003 to $318 this year, which the carrier said was primarily due to reduced handset subsidy losses, while the cash cost per user remained steady at $23.
Total revenues jumped more than 40 percent from $2 billion during the second quarter of 2003 to $2.8 billion this year, while first-half revenues increased more than 42 percent from $3.8 billion in 2003 to $5.4 billion this year. Net income also improved from a loss of $130 million during the second quarter of 2003 to a return of $240 million this year.
