Sprint PCS affiliate UbiquiTel Inc. said it added 21,400 subscribers during the first quarter of this year, which was a 24-percent improvement compared with the 17,200 subscribers the carrier added during the first quarter of 2003. The subscriber adds were helped by a decline in customer churn from 3.4 percent last year to 3.1 percent this year.
The carrier noted that the percentage of prime customers added during the quarter dropped from 79 percent last year to 61 percent this year, and at the end of the first quarter, more than 10 percent of its customer base comprised resell subscribers.
Average revenue per user during the quarter increased from $54 last year to $56 this year, while the cost per gross addition dropped from $432 to $425 and cash cost per user fell from $46 to $43 over the same time frame. UbiquiTel’s management added that more than half of its customer base is using wireless data-enabled handsets, and data services contributed $2.90 toward ARPU during the quarter.
Despite a 39-percent increase in total revenues from $58.5 million during the first quarter of 2003 to $81.3 million this year, UbiquiTel reported net income dropped from $16.2 million last year, a return of 18 cents per share, to a loss of $8.6 million this year, a loss of 9 cents per share. The carrier did report an increase in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization from $200,000 during the first quarter of 2003 to $11.6 million this year, as well as an increase in free cash flow from a loss of $600,000 last year to $3.2 million this year.
