Verizon Wireless posted strong third-quarter results, including a number of company records and extended its claim as the nation’s largest wireless operator.
The carrier said it added 1.4 million total wireless customers during the quarter, including 1.3 million retail net subscriber additions, which Verizon Wireless said was the most subscribers it has ever added during a three-month period and nearly 16 percent more than the carrier added during the third quarter of 2002. The strong customer growth, which was nearly double that posted by the second-largest carrier Cingular Wireless L.L.C., pushed Verizon Wireless’ subscriber base to 36 million customers at the end of the third quarter.
Bolstering the carrier’s customer growth was a reported 1.4-percent postpaid customer churn and 1.9-percent blended churn result compared with 2.3-percent blended churn reported during the third quarter of 2002. Verizon Wireless added that it had more than 10 million “revenue-generating data subscribers” at the end of the third quarter, and it had signed more than 100,000 subscribers to its recently launched Push to Talk offering.
Verizon Wireless’ strong growth contributed to its 18.2-percent year-over-year increase in revenues from $5 billion during the third quarter of 2002 to $5.9 billion this year. The carrier also noted its average monthly service revenue per subscriber increased 1 percent year-over-year to more than $50 during the third quarter.
