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Triton PCS narrows loss

BERWYN, Pa.-Triton PCS Holdings Inc. posted $194.7 million in total revenues for the third quarter, a 31-percent increase from the $148.8 million the carrier reported for the same quarter last year. Net losses also dropped from $47 million last year, a loss of 72 cents per share, to $35.5 million this year, a loss of 54 cents per share.

The carrier also announced it had approximately $550 million in cash and undrawn credit at the end of the quarter and also recently amended its senior credit agreements to ensure covenant flexibility to draw untapped bank commitments.

“The new covenant levels provide considerable financial flexibility and remove any obstacles to accessing our liquidity,” said Michael Kalogris, chairman and chief executive officer of Triton PCS.

During the quarter, Triton added 32,961 customers bringing the carrier’s customer base to 796,486 subscribers. Customer churn was reported at 2.2 percent, while the cost per gross customer addition remained steady compared with the previous quarter at $418.

Analysts were expecting Triton to post 40,000 net customer additions for the quarter with customer churn of around 2 percent.

Triton also reported it recently signed a one-year extension with AT&T Corp. and AT&T Wireless Services Inc. to continue to use the AT&T brand name through Feb. 4, 2004. There were rumors that Triton would not continue with the AT&T branded name and would instead use its SunCom brand to market its service.

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