CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa.-Sprint PCS affiliate UbiquiTel Inc. reported 15,100 net customer additions during the fourth quarter of last year, which was short of the 22,700 customers the carrier added during the fourth quarter of 2003 and below estimates of around 22,000 net subscriber additions. Contributing to the shortfall was a 6.4-percent year-over-year drop in gross subscriber additions, which was just enough to offset a drop in customer churn from 3.1 percent during the fourth quarter of 2003 to 2.9 percent last year.
Average revenue per user remained flat year-over-year at $57 during the fourth quarter, while the cost per gross addition increased 12.5 percent to $505 during the fourth quarter of 2004 due to the shortfall in net customer additions.
Full-year customer growth remained relatively flat with 70,800 subscribers added last year compared with 70,700 net customer additions in 2003, while customer churn improved from 3.2 percent in 2003 to 2.9 percent last year.
The carrier did note that it churned 1,500 sub-prime credit class customers during the fourth quarter, which analysts attributed to a shift of lower credit customers to Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C.’s prepaid offering that recently launched service in a number of UbiquiTel markets. UbiquiTel said it ended 2004 with 76 percent of subscribers in prime credit classes compared with 74 percent at the end of 2003.
Fourth-quarter revenues increased nearly 30 percent from $75.9 million in 2003 to $98.3 million last year, including a 24-percent increase in subscriber revenues and 58-percent increase in roaming and wholesale revenues. Full-year revenues jumped 34 percent from $273.3 million in 2003 to $366 million last year.
Net losses improved from a loss of $8.5 million during the fourth quarter of 2003, or a loss of 9 cents per share, to a loss of $1.4 million last year, or a loss of 1 cent per share. Full-year net losses increased from $8.6 million in 2003, a loss of 10 cents per share, to $15.3 million last year, or a loss of 16 cents per share.
UbiquiTel also released 2005 forecasts, including predictions of between 60,000 and 80,000 net customer additions this year, customer churn of between 2.5 percent and 2.8 percent, and between $55 and $57 in ARPU. In addition, the carrier said it expects to post between $430 million and $450 million in total revenues and between 12 cents and 22 cents in earnings per share.
