UScellular’s Fixed Wireless Access business continues to gain momentum, with the company reporting that it added 124,000 FWA customers during the first quarter, up 42% from the same time last year. Comparatively, UScellular added 87,000 in the year-ago quarter, and it is seeing consistent sequential growth each quarter, including 106,000 FWA in the third quarter of 2023 and 114,000 during the fourth quarter of 2023.
Overall, the company—which is in the process of looking at its strategic alternatives, including potential mergers or acquisition—reported mixed results compared the same period last year: Service revenues were down 2%, postpaid ARPU was up 3% to $51.96, and while its overall operating revenues were also down from $986 million to $950 million year-over-year, its cut-cutting measures meant that net income was up at $18 million for the quarter, compared to $13 million in the first quarter of 2023.
“We delivered strong bottom-line results during the quarter, driven by postpaid ARPU growth and our ongoing focus on expense discipline. We also drove year-over-year improvements in postpaid churn, and fixed wireless continued its strong customer growth trajectory,” said UScellular President and CEO Laurent Therivel. “Although we experienced some month-to-month improvement in postpaid net additions in the first quarter, postpaid handset gross additions continue to be a challenge, and this drove the postpaid net addition decline in the quarter. We have made recent promotional changes in order to drive improvement in postpaid handset subscriber momentum, while keeping us financially disciplined.”
UScellular also noted that it reduced its postpaid churn rate by 4%. Equipment revenues were also down, by 10%. But the company’s tower revenues grew from $24.7 million in the year-ago period to $25.4 million in the most recent quarter.
The exploration of strategic alternatives for the company is “active and on-going,” according to UScellular and its parent company, TDS. In the meantime, the wireless carrier’s outlook for the full year is unchanged, including between $550-$650 million in capital spending. TDS is focusing on fiber expansion, having added 28,000 new locations to its fiber passes during the first quarter and reporting residential broadband connection growth of 6% compared to the same time last year.
More details in the companies’ earnings presentation, available here.
