Western Wireless Corp. reported 22,900 net customer additions during the first quarter of this year for its domestic operations, ending the quarter with more than 1.3 million total domestic customers. The carrier said customer churn dropped from 2 percent during the first quarter of 2003 to 1.9 percent this year.
The carrier also reported that average revenue per user increased nearly 7 percent from $44.84 last year to $47.80 this year, the cost per gross addition increased nearly 10 percent year-over-year to $422 during the first quarter, and the average monthly cost of serving a customer increased 6.5 percent from $21.64 during the first quarter of 2003 to $23.04 this year.
Total domestic revenues increased more than 12 percent year over year from $221.5 million during the first quarter of 2003 to $249.4 million this year, despite a drop in roaming revenue from $48.2 million last year to $48 million this year. Consolidated revenues, including Western Wireless’ international operations, increased more than 37 percent from $327.2 million last year to $448.9 million this year.
Domestic net income also increased from $13.3 million during the first quarter of 2003 to $33 million this year, while total consolidated net income jumped from a loss of $24 million, or a loss of 30 cents per share, to a return of $31.4 million this year, or 32 cents per share.
Western Wireless added that domestic capital expenditures increased more than 50 percent year over year to $46.6 million as it continued to add CDMA and GSM/GPRS coverage, which at the end of the first quarter included CDMA coverage for 68 percent of the carrier’s service area and more than half of its planned GSM/GPRS coverage area.
