Sprint Corp. reported a company record 1.58 million net wireless subscriber additions during the fourth quarter of last year, which included 526,000 direct subscribers, 133,000 affiliate net additions and 923,000 reseller net additions. The carrier’s direct subscriber additions were slightly ahead of the 450,000 to 500,000 net customer additions predicted by most analysts and a significant improvement compared with the 390,000 direct customers Sprint added during the fourth quarter of 2003.
For the year, Sprint PCS said it added 4.4 million total subscribers, including 2 million direct, 374,000 affiliate and 2.1 million reseller net additions, and ended 2004 with 17.8 million direct and 24.8 million total customers on its network.
Boosting Sprint’s strong fourth-quarter direct customer growth was an increase in gross additions from 1.67 million in 2003 to 1.94 million this year that offset flat customer churn of 2.7 percent.
Sprint also reported that average revenue per user remained constant year-over-year at $62, which was also within analysts’ forecasts, with data services contributing $5.50 or 9 percent to total ARPU for the fourth quarter of this year compared with $3.50 during the fourth quarter of 2003.
Total wireless revenues increased 16 percent year-over-year from $3.3 billion during the fourth quarter of 2003 to $3.8 billion this year, boosted by a 95-percent increase in wholesale and affiliate revenues from $101 million in 2003 to $197 million last year. Full-year revenues increased 15.4 percent from $12.7 billion in 2003 to $14.6 billion last year.
Fourth-quarter operating income also increased from a loss of $96 million in 2003 to a return of $406 million last year, while full-year operating income more than doubled from $634 million in 2003 to $1.55 billion last year.
Sprint Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gary Forsee also noted that the company plans to file paperwork with the Federal Communications Commission within the next week regarding its pending merger with Nextel Communications Inc. If approved, the $35 billion deal would create a new company-Sprint Nextel-with nearly 40 million total subscribers.
