T-Mobile USA Inc. reported 901,000 net customer additions during the third quarter of this year, which was a 34-percent increase compared with the 670,000 subscribers the carrier added during the third quarter of 2003 and in line with analysts’ estimates. T-Mobile USA noted that postpaid customers accounted for 90 percent of the growth during the quarter, and contract customers comprised 89 percent of its nearly 16.3 million total subscribers.
Customer growth was spurred by a decrease in customer churn from 3.3 percent during the third quarter of 2003 to 3 percent this year, though the carrier noted churn increased from 2.8 percent during the second quarter of this year due to an increase in the volume of postpaid subscribers reaching the end of their one-year contracts.
Average revenue per user increased slightly from $54 during the third quarter of 2003 to $55 this year, which the carrier attributed to universal service regulatory cost recovery fees. The impact of data services also increased from 2.7 percent of ARPU during the third quarter of 2003 to 5.6 percent this year.
The cost per gross customer addition dropped from $334 during the third quarter of 2003 to $301 this year, which T-Mobile USA attributed to lower dealer compensation, while the average cash cost of serving customers remained stable at $24.
Total revenues increased 37 percent year-over-year from $2.2 billion during the third quarter of 2003 to $3 billion this year. Net income also increased from a loss of $39 million last year to a return of $254 million this year.<
