ATLANTA-BellSouth Corp. reported that Cingular Wireless L.L.C. lost 121,000 net customers during the fourth quarter of last year, below analysts’ expectations of between 100,000 and 200,000 net customer additions for the quarter. The fourth-quarter customer net loss tops the 107,000 customers Cingular said it lost during the third quarter of 2002 and the 325,000 customer additions it reported for the fourth quarter of 2001.
The customer loss came despite a drop in customer churn from 3.1 percent during the fourth quarter of 2001 to 2.7 percent last year. Average revenue per user also fell from $51.63 during the fourth quarter of 2001 to $51.13 during the final quarter of 2002.
Total revenues increased 0.6 percent from $3.635 billion during the fourth quarter of 2001 to $3.657 billion last year, with operating income falling 6 percent from $549 million to $516 million during the same time period. Cingular also reported a 21.7-percent decrease in capital expenditures for the quarter, falling from $1.6 billion in 2001 to $1.3 billion last year.
