CHICAGO—U.S. Cellular Corp. released limited operating results for the second quarter, reporting a churn rate that ticked upward and net overall customer activations that were about half of what the carrier achieved during the same period last year—however, the company expects to boost its operating revenues significantly.
U.S. Cellular said that it had about 5.7 million customers as of June 30, and that it expected to report quarterly operating revenue of between $835 million and $855 million—a substantial increase from the restated $742 million that the regional carrier registered for the second quarter of 2005. The company’s operating income also is expected to see an increase, from about $67 million in the year-ago period to between $70 million and $90 million for 2006’s second quarter.
U.S. Cellular’s postpaid churn rate increased from 1.4 percent in last year’s second quarter to 1.5 percent this year; that figure held steady from the first quarter of 2006. The company gained 48,000 net customers overall, compared with about 94,000 net customer additions in the same period a year ago. That’s also a steep drop from the first quarter of 2006, when U.S. Cellular gained about 150,000 net customers.
U.S. Cellular and its parent company, Telephone and Data Systems Inc., are still catching up on quarterly and annual filings after a series of financial restatements that the companies began working on in November. U.S. Cellular filed its restatements in April and its annual report for 2005 in late July. The company has until Nov. 14 to catch up on the rest of its delayed 2006 quarterly reports.
