NEW YORK-In its fourth-quarter results released Jan. 27, Telephone and Data Systems Inc.,
Chicago, reported substantial increases in revenues and customers but a net loss per share of common
stock.
Revenues grew 28 percent to $495 million over the last quarter of 1997 “fueled by double-digit growth
in all three of our businesses,” TDS said.
TDS reported a company-wide net loss per share of 29 cents, down
from a 65-cent loss per share during the last quarter of 1997. It attributed most of its losses for the last complete quarter
to operating losses at Aerial, the company’s personal communications services business.
U.S. Cellular Corp.
revenues increased by 29 percent to $302 million, and its customers increased by 28 percent to 2.18 million. The
carrier, owned 81 percent by TDS, reduced its net new customer activations from outside marketing channels to
150,000 from 158,000 during the last quarter of 1997.
For all of 1998, the first full year of operations for Aerial
Communications Inc. TDS reported revenues increased to $124 million from $32 million in 1997.
However, TDS
said Aerial’s average monthly revenue per user declined 2.4 percent to $49.01, compared with the third quarter of 1998,
“reflecting an increase in new customers during the holiday period.”
During the last quarter, the PCS
carrier added nearly 26 percent of its total customer base, which reached 311,900 subscribers as of Dec. 31.
Aerial
finished the fourth quarter with 81,200 net new customers, a 35-percent increase from third quarter
1998.
“Churn for (Aerial’s) post-pay customers decreased by 14 percent from the third quarter, finishing at 4.3
percent (monthly) for the fourth quarter, (but) prepaid churn continued at its high level,” TDS reported.
TDS
also said 60 percent of those Aerial customers surveyed during the final quarter rated the carrier overall as “very
good” or “excellent,” up from 49 percent of those polled at the end of 1997.
“Contributing
to these gains were dramatic improvements in customer ratings of network performance, reliability and clarity since
year-end 1997,” TDS said.
