WAYNESBORO, Va.—Regional telecommunications operator Ntelos Holdings Corp. reported strong growth in the fourth quarter and full-year 2005, generating wireless operating revenues of $73 million during the final three months of 2005 and $280 million for the year.
Ntelos Inc., the company’s prior incarnation, was a Sprint Nextel Corp. affiliate. The company emerged from bankruptcy in 2003 and had been privately held by two venture capital companies. The wireless and wireline company operates a CDMA-based network in Virginia and West Virginia and went public as Ntelos Holdings in February. According to Ntelos, it now has a wireless wholesale agreement with Sprint Nextel.
Ntelos said that it added 34,151 net wireless subscribers in 2005, more than double the number it added in 2004, to end the year with 336,306 wireless customers. The company’s average revenue per user during the fourth quarter of 2005 increased 7 percent compared to 2004’s fourth quarter, to $52.75. The growth was primarily driven by data usage, Ntelos said; its fourth quarter data ARPU jumped from 70 cents in 2004 to $2.22 in 2005.
The company’s consolidated revenue was $390 million, up 14 percent over 2004’s operating revenue. Wireless made up most of that figure, accounting for $280 million for the year and $73 million in the fourth quarter. Wireless operating revenue increased 19 percent year-over-year. Wireless subscriber revenues were up 18 percent for 2005 and wholesale revenues from its agreement with Sprint Nextel grew 21 percent compared with 2004.
The company saw its number of wireline access lines decrease 3 percent year-over-year.
