January 24, 2006

In a record-smashing quarter, Verizon Wireless clocked 2 million net customer additions to pull past Cingular Wireless L.L.C.'s blockbuster results of 1.8 million net adds.

Verizon Wireless continued its streak of 14 consecutive quarters with double-digit growth, with its customer growth results up 20.5 percent over the fourth quarter of 2004.

For the full year of 2005, Verizon added more than 7.5 million net customers, up 19.5 percent over 2004.

The carrier ended the year with 51.3 million wireless customers.

Verizon Wireless only released customer numbers; full financial results are expected on Thursday.

Cingular's 1.8 million net adds are more than double the number posted in the third quarter of 2005.

Along with strong customer numbers, Cingular Wireless reported its lowest ever churn rate of 2.1 percent; postpaid churn was a mere 1.9 percent.

Cingular reported that its GSM network accounted for 95 percent of minutes used on its network during the fourth quarter, and 86 percent of its subscribers had GSM handsets.

However, the carrier's annual revenue per user checked in at $48.86.

That was down 2.2 percent from pro forma ARPU from the same quarter last year.

Cingular cited pressure on voice revenue due to an increase in lower-revenue customers as the wireless market saturates.

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Meanwhile, Cingular's data ARPU came in at $4.71, up 63 percent from the fourth quarter of 2004 and nine percent from the third quarter of 2005. Cingular closed out the year with 54.1 million wireless customers, five million more than last year.

"Cingular finished 2005 on a high note," said Stan Sigman, president and chief executive officer of Cingular.

The carrier's normalized total operating revenue was up 24.3 percent over the same quarter last year, from $7.12 billion to $8.85 billion. Normalized net income registered at $811 million for the quarter and $2.6 billion for the year.

The results announced today could put the industry on track for its biggest quarter ever in terms of customer growth.

Besides the figures from Verizon Wireless and Cingular, T-Mobile USA Inc. is slated to release customer numbers this week as well. Sprint Nextel Corp.'s numbers are expected in late February.

Source: RCR