LAKE CHARLES, La.-US Unwired Inc., which recently filed a lawsuit against network partner Sprint PCS, said it added 8,878 net subscribers during the second quarter, which was less than half the 19,556 subscribers the carrier added during the second quarter of 2002. The carrier added that just over half of its net customer additions during the second quarter of this year were from its IWO Holdings subsidiary.
Despite the dramatic slowdown in customer growth, US Unwired reported postpaid customer churn plunged from 3.4 percent last year to 2.7 percent this year.
US Unwired also reported a drop in total revenues from $144.4 million during the second quarter of 2002 to $137.5 million this year, as well as a decrease in net losses from $49.7 million last year, or 39 cents per share, to a loss of $35 million this year, or 27 cents per share.
US Unwired’s management noted that the carrier may not meet certain financial covenants of its credit agreement for the remainder of this year and that its IWO subsidiary may have to file for bankruptcy protection as it was not in compliance with its $240 million bank credit facility at the end of the second quarter and was delinquent on its interest payments under the credit facility.
Fellow Sprint PCS affiliate iPCS Inc., which is a unit of AirGate PCS Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this year.
