ALEXANDRIA, Minn.—Rural Cellular Corp. said it lost 7,385 customers during the second quarter, which was an improvement compared with the 9,992 customers the carrier lost during the second quarter of 2005. Postpaid customers made up most of the loss with Rural Cellular only showing a quarterly improvement in adding wholesale customers. Rural Cellular ended the quarter with 690,426 total customers on its network compared with 716,755 subscribers last year.
Postpaid customer churn remained steady at 2.7 percent, while local service revenue per user climbed from $50 during the second quarter of 2005 to $53 this year, and acquisition cost per customer jumped from $520 to $578.
Despite the customer issues, Rural Cellular posted a 5-percent increase in total revenues during the quarter from $133.4 million last year to $140.2 million this year. The growth was attributed to a 46 percent year-over-year increase in roaming revenues from $25.1 million last year to $36.7 million this year that offset a decline in service and equipment revenues.
Net losses also increased from $19.6 million last year, a loss of $1.59 per share, to a loss of $29.7 million this year, a loss of $2.11 per share.
Rural Cellular’s stock was trading up slightly Wednesday morning at $7.90 per share.
