Triton PCS Holdings Inc. posted mixed first-quarter financial results as a significant drop in roaming revenues and a slight increase in net losses offset a year-over-year increase in total revenues.
Total revenues during the first quarter increased 5 percent from $188.5 million last year to $198 million this year, which was in line with estimates of around $200 million in revenues, despite a 21-percent drop in roaming revenues from $42.8 million in 2003 to $33.6 million this year. Analysts noted the roaming shortfall was caused by a 6.7-percent drop in roaming minutes of use, which was attributed to AT&T Wireless Services Inc.’s incentives to keep its customers on network and a drop in the AWS’ customer base during the quarter, which resulted in a 1.67-to-1 ratio of inbound-outbound roaming for Triton, its worst in more than three years, and a 15-percent drop in the roaming yield per minute from 17.9 cents in 2003 to 15.1 cents this year.
Net losses also increased from $38 million during the first quarter of 2003, a loss of 57 cents per share, to $40.2 million this year, a loss of 60 cents per share.
Net customer additions also dropped year over year from 31,000 subscribers during the first quarter of 2003 to 25,000 net customer additions this year. Customer churn increased from 2.1 percent last year to 2.3 percent this year, while average revenue per user increased from $53.52 to $54.73 and cost per gross addition dropped from $406 to $404.
