CHICAGO—U.S. Cellular Corp. increased its service revenues and average revenue per user in the first quarter of 2006, but its net customer additions were down compared to the year-ago period.
U.S. Cellular posted a14 percent year-over-year increase in service revenues, with the following breakdown: retail service revenue was up almost 15 percent; inbound roaming revenue was up about 18 percent; and long-distance/other revenue increased by about 12 percent.
The carrier’s gross customer additions were up year-over-year from 426,000 subscribers during the first quarter of 2005 to 434,000 customers this year. However, net customer activations were down about 17 percent from 182,000 subscribers last year to 151,000 customers this year. last quarter. Postpaid churn held steady year-over-year at 1.5 percent; U.S. Cellular did not report its blended churn rate.
The carrier bumped its ARPU up by about 4 percent year-over-year from $44.46 to $46.22. Retail ARPU was also up 4 percent, from $39.20 in the first quarter of 2005 to $40.75 in 2006’s first quarter.
U.S. Cellular previously released a few second quarter 2006 metrics, including 48,000 net customer activations and postpaid churn continuing to register at 1.5 percent. The carrier ended the second quarter with about 5.7 million customers.
The company filed its financial results for the first quarter of 2006; it has been catching up on financial reports after a series of restatements that dated back to 2000. U.S. Cellular still has its complete second-quarter results to report, which is expected to be late as well; the carrier indicated in a company statement that it would file those financials “as soon as possible” after the first quarter report was filed.
The company’s stock was up sharply in early trading Friday and then fell by midday, landing down slightly from its opening price of $59.25 per share.
