January 25, 2005

Cingular Wireless finished its 4th quarter with 49.1 million subscribers, with 1.8 million new customers during the period. Nevertheless, the number one U.S. wireless carrier still posted a loss of $497 million.

The carrier recorded revenue of $8.1 billion, including results during the first 25 days of October from AT&T Wireless and other acquired properties. Operating expenses came in at $7.3 billion, which included $245 million in merger-related costs.

Gross customer additions totaled 5.7 million, on a pro-forma basis. Average revenue per user (ARPU) dipped 5.8 percent to $49.67.

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"ARPU was adversely impacted primarily by the transition of customers to lower-priced GSM plans and the continued popularity of FamilyTalk," Cingular said.

"The merger is working, and it is everything we had hoped it would be," said Stan Sigman, Cingular's president and CEO. "Customers have responded very positively, choosing Cingular -- and choosing to stay with Cingular -- in record numbers."

Churn decreased from 2.8 percent in the third quarter to 2.6 percent.

Looking ahead, Cingular is projecting positive results. Total capital expenditures are expected to come in between $6.8 billion and $7.2 billion as the carrier spends to expand its network coverage, build out the California/Nevada network and deploy UMTS.

In 2007, however, Cingular expects to return to a capital expenditure run rate in the mid teens as a percent of total revenue, the carrier said in a statement.

Source: Wireless Week

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