RESTON, Va.-NII Holdings, which offers iDEN-based wireless service in several Latin American countries and which is partially owned by Nextel Communications Inc., reported first-quarter results Thursday. The company said operating revenues hit $277 million, a 36-percent increase compared with the year-ago quarter. The company added about 89,200 net subscribers to its network during the quarter, a 136-percent increase compared with the first quarter of 2003.
The carrier, which has operations in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Peru, had about 1.55 million total subscribers at the end of March.
NII reported a consolidated net loss of $40 million, or 58 cents per basic share, which included a charge of $79 million related to the early retirement of the company’s 13-percent senior debt through a cash tender offer, partially offset by $13.6 million in non-cash gains related to the reversal of certain deferred tax asset valuation reserves. Excluding the charge, the company generated net income of $26 million, or 37 cents per basic share. NII ended the first quarter with $398 million in consolidated cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments.
The carrier’s monthly average revenue per user was about $55 for the quarter, up from $50 for the same quarter last year. The company also announced its ninth consecutive quarter of churn reduction, reporting churn of 1.9 percent for the quarter, compared with 2.6 percent in the year-ago period.
NII Holdings said that, along with Nextel Communications, Nextel Partners, Canada’s Telus Corp. and Motorola Inc., it is in the final stages of deploying international Direct Connect push-to-talk service. The initial launch of commercial service is expected in May.
America Movil, one of Latin America’s largest wireless providers, said in its first-quarter results this week it plans to launch a PTT service in several of its markets, according to press reports.
