Sprint PCS reported mixed third-quarter results, including disappointing customer growth and churn results, but better-than-expected financial metrics.
The carrier reported 184,000 net customer additions during the quarter, which was below the approximately 300,000 subscribers forecast by analysts, but ahead of the 78,000 customers Sprint PCS said it lost during the third quarter of 2002. Analysts were expecting stronger customer growth from Sprint PCS following Radio Shack Corp.’s reported 12-percent increase in wireless sales during the quarter, which accounts for approximately 20 percent of Sprint PCS’ gross additions.
Impacting customer growth this quarter was lower-than-expected gross customer additions of 1.4 million subscribers and higher-than-forecast customer churn of 2.7 percent, which was more than the 2.6 percent analysts predicted, but an improvement over the 3.8-percent customer churn reported during the third quarter of 2002.
Sprint PCS did note that average revenue per user remained steady year-over-year at $63, which was ahead of analysts’ forecasts and driven by continued growth in data and wholesale services. The carrier added that it signed up 600,000 PCS Vision customers during the quarter, bringing its total Vision customer base to 2.7 million subscribers and more than 5 million total data customers, which analysts estimated contributed $2.20 to Sprint PCS’ ARPU results.
Sprint PCS reported total revenues increased nearly 6 percent from $3.2 billion last year to $3.3 billion during the third quarter of 2003. Net losses also increased year-over-year from $7 million last year, a loss of 1 cent per share, to $65 this year, a loss of 7 cents per share.
