BELLEVUE, Wash.-T-Mobile USA Inc. again led the industry in customer growth during the first quarter of 2003, reporting 921,000 net customer additions during the first three months of this year, which was nearly double the 509,000 net customer additions the carrier reported for the first quarter of 2002. T-Mobile USA’s first-quarter customer growth handily beat Verizon Wireless, which reported just more than 800,000 net customer additions during the first quarter.
At the end of the first quarter, T-Mobile USA said it served more than 10.8 million total customers, placing it just short of Nextel Communications Inc.’s 11.1 million customer base as the fifth-largest wireless carrier in the United States.
T-Mobile USA also reported that postpaid customers accounted for 897,000 subscriber additions during the quarter and that blended customer churn dropped from 4.4 percent during the first quarter of 2002 to 3.01 percent this year. Average revenue per user fell slightly from $51 during the first quarter of 2002 to $50 this year, while the cost per gross addition increased from $291 to $303.
Financially, T-Mobile USA reported $1.8 billion in total revenues during the first quarter of 2003 compared with $1.2 billion during the first quarter of 2002. Net losses dropped from $4.2 billion last year to $216 million this year.
T-Mobile USA also announced that its network coverage increased from 162 million potential customers at the end of the first quarter of 2002 to 224 million pops this year.
