Surpassing analysts estimates of around 200,000 net customer additions, Sprint PCS said it added 414,000 direct customers during the first quarter of this year, which was also more than double the 199,000 subscribers the carrier added during the first quarter of 2003. Despite lower-than-expected growth through its wholesale channels, Sprint PCS said it added more than 972,000 total subscribers to its network during the first quarter, including its affiliates, and ended the quarter with 21.3 million subscribers.
Bolstering Sprint PCS’ stronger-than-expected customer growth was lower-than-expected customer churn of 2.9 percent during the quarter compared with estimates in the low 3-percent range and the 3.1 percent the carrier reported during the first quarter of 2003.
In addition, Sprint PCS posted a 3.4 percent year-over-year increase in average revenue per user from $59 during the first quarter of 2003 to $61 this year. The carrier noted more than 55 percent of new subscribers signed up for its Vision data service, bringing the total number of Vision customers to 4.2 million and total data customers to more than 6 million, which the carrier said contributed more than 6 percent to its ARPU results.
Sprint PCS also reported total revenues increased more than 5 percent from $3.3 billion during the first quarter of 2003 to more than $3.4 billion this year, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased nearly 6 percent from $864 million last year to $915 million this year.
