Verizon Wireless nets 1.6M new customers

Verizon Wireless reported another strong quarter of results, although the company saw small increases in its consistently low churn rates.
The carrier added a total of 1.6 million net customers. However, Verizon Wireless lost about 115,000 customers from its wholesale business, which primarily involves resellers.
The numbers leave Verizon Wireless with 63.7 million total customers, 97% of whom are retail customers. The industry’s No. 1 carrier, AT&T Mobility, counts 65.7 million customers.
Verizon Wireless’ total revenues were up 14.4% year-over-year to about $11.3 billion. Income for the business gained 21.6% on the same quarter a year ago to end up at $978 million.
The carrier continued to lead the industry with low churn, registering 1.21% churn among retail customers and 0.96% churn among retail postpaid customers; both figures ticked up just slightly from the 1.15% retail churn rate and 0.95% retail postpaid churn that Verizon Wireless reported in the third quarter of last year. The company’s total churn also increased a bit, from 1.24% in 2006’s third quarter to 1.27% this year.
The company recorded its highest-ever retail service and data average revenue per user: $52.17 and $10.59, respectively. Retail data ARPU was up nearly 43% from the third quarter of 2006. Verizon Wireless noted that more than 50% of its retail customers have broadband-capable devices, and that its customers sent and received 36.5 billion text messages during the quarter and 721 million multimedia messages.