CHICAGO—U.S. Cellular Corp. provided preliminary first quarter results, showing a decrease in the number of customers it signed up compared with the same quarter last year, but a level churn rate.
U.S. Cellular recorded 151,000 net customer additions in the quarter, down from the 182,000 customers it signed up in the year-ago quarter. U.S. Cellular ended the first quarter with 5.6 million customers.
The carrier’s postpaid churn remained unchanged over the same quarter a year ago at 1.5 percent, while average revenue per user improved from $44.46 during the first three months of 2005 to $46.22 this year.
The carrier’s stock was down slightly on the news to around $63.19 per share.
U.S. Cellular said it expects to report operating revenues for the quarter of between $830 million and $845 million, up from the $711 million it posted in the same quarter a year ago. The company said its operating income should also rise to between $65 million and $85 million for the quarter.
For the full-year, U.S. Cellular said it expects to score between 390,000 and 450,000 new customers, along with operating income of between $230 and $290 million.