BELLEVUE, Wash.—T-Mobile USA Inc. posted a strong 1.04 million net customer additions during the first quarter, which was above analyst expectations as well as the 957,000 subscribers the carrier added during the first three months of 2005. The nation’s No. 4 carrier noted that postpaid customers made up 70 percent of first quarter, and that 84 percent of its 22.7 million total customers were under contract.
Churn trended downward, according to the carrier. Blended churn was 2.7 percent in the first quarter, down slightly from 2.8 percent in the year-ago quarter. Prepaid churn in first quarter was 5.8 percent, down from 6.4 percent in the year-ago quarter. Postpay churn hit 2.1 percent, down from the year-ago quarter’s 2.3 percent.
T-Mobile USA reported that its average revenue per user was $51 in the first quarter, down from $54 in the year-ago quarter. Revenue from data services reached $341 million in the first quarter, representing about 10 percent of blended ARPU, or $5.12 per customer, up from 7 percent of blended ARPU, or $3.71 per customer, in the year-ago quarter.
Despite the ARPU shortfall, net income jumped from $103 million during the first quarter of 2005 to $241 million in the first quarter of this year. T-Mobile USA’s income was earned from first-quarter service revenue of $3.4 billion, up from about $2.9 billion in the year-ago quarter.
The strong showing was not enough to boost investors’ confidence in T-Mobile USA’s German parent, Deutsche Telekom AG, whose stock sagged more than 2 percent in early trading today. DT has noted that its U.S. wireless operation is a main driver for its overall business.
