MetroPCS reports Q4 sales slump

The fourth quarter is shaping up as being a tough one for prepaid focused operators as MetroPCS Communications Inc. (PCS) released preliminary customer results that showed a dip in growth. The drop followed a pattern set by Leap Wireless International Inc. (LEAP), which reported a similar year-over-year decline.
MetroPCS said it added 297,726 customers during the final three months of 2010, which was down from the 317,255 customers the regional wireless operator added during the fourth quarter of 2009. The drop looked to be mostly due to a decline in gross customer additions as the carrier’s customer churn results improved dramatically year-over-year from 5.3% to 3.5%.
MetroPCS President and CEO Roger Linquist attributed some of the shortfall to “severe weather occurring during our peak selling season in late December.”
For the year MetroPCS managed to grow its customer base by more than 1.5 million customers compared with 1.273 million added in 2009. The carrier ended 2010 with 8.155 million customers on its network.
Leap reported last week that it added 115,000 direct customers to its network during the fourth quarter, which was significantly short of the 298,000 customers the carrier added during the fourth quarter of 2009. The first and fourth quarters have traditionally been the strongest selling seasons for both operators as their no-contract, unlimited services seem to garner a significant amount of attention around holidays and students going off to school.
The prepaid segment has garnered considerable attention from a number of operators over the past 12 months as the postpaid segment has stagnated under near saturation. A number of nationwide operators have posted stronger prepaid customer growth results all year compared with their once dominate postpaid numbers.