A Nextel Communications Inc. executive said the carrier posted 595,000 net subscribers in the fourth quarter, and nearly 1 million total customer additions, when including its youth-oriented Boost Mobile L.L.C. prepaid offering, during the quarter.
Paul Saleh, Nextel vice president and chief financial officer, speaking at the Smith Barney Citigroup Global Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference, also noted that the carrier added 2.2 million direct subscribers and 2.9 million total customers for the year with 15 million Nextel subscribers and 1.2 million Boost Mobile customers.
Analysts were expecting Nextel, which announced a $35 billion merger with rival Sprint Corp. late last year, to post between 500,000 and 550,000 net customer additions for the fourth quarter of 2004, while Boost Mobile was expected to add between 250,000 and 300,000 subscribers.
Saleh also reported that Nextel recently completed the nationwide deployment of new voice coder software that is expected to double the capacity of the carrier’s iDEN-based network.
