ATLANTA-Sprint PCS affiliate AirGate PCS Inc. reported a 3.4-percent increase in revenues for its third fiscal quarter ended June 30, from $83.2 million in 2003 to $86 million this year. The increase was spread across the carrier’s service, roaming and equipment revenues, which all posted small year-over-year growth despite a nearly 30-percent drop in the carrier’s inbound roaming rate from Sprint PCS to 4.1 cents per minute.
Net income also increased from a loss of $8.2 million last year, a loss of $1.59 per share, to a return of $2.2 million this year, or 18 cents per share.
Net subscriber additions increased nearly 33 percent from 5,593 customers during the third quarter of 2003 to 7,434 subscriber additions this year, bolstered by a drop in customer churn from 2.9 percent to 2.55 percent, which offset a slight drop in gross subscriber additions. AirGate’s management attributed the drop in customer churn to initiatives the carrier implemented during the quarter that it said addressed voluntary churn and improved prime customer retention.
Average revenue per user decreased more than 2 percent from $59.90 during the third quarter of 2003 to $58.35 this year, while the cost per gross addition dropped more than 13 percent from $381 last year to $330 this year.
