MetroPCS reports Q3 earnings, added 69,000 new subscribers in the period
Pre-paid carrier MetroPCS added 69,000 new subscribers during the just completed third quarter and now has 9.1 million customers. Earnings rose 4% year-over-year and net income for the period was $69 million or 19 cents per share. Chairman and CEO Roger D. Linquist gave the credit for the improvement to the new Android phones that are being offered by the carrier. Lindquist added that the company's strategy for the rest of this year and for the next is to continue rolling out Android models, offered without a contract. These models give MetroPCS customers a choice of "compelling" applications according to the executive. As an example, Linquist mentioned the carrier's new Rhapsody music service.
While MetroPCs had a churn of 4.5% in the three months due to "economic pressures" on its customers, the same economic problems could actually be driving new business to the carrier from customers leaving higher priced contracts they signed with other mobile operators for the month to month service offered by MetroPCS.
Now that three quarters are in the books, MetroPCS has added a net figure of nearly 1 million new customers and has brought in nearly $1 billion in EBITDA which is a gain of 13% from last year. 30% of MetroPCS customers are now using a smartphone with 46% of those choosing an Android device. Linquist says that toward the second half of next year, the company will be adding more Android devices at lower cost to the consumer, and with more functionality. At the same time, the executive said that he has a goal to move more MetroPCS customers over to the carrier's 4G LTE network. With the combination of more Android and smartphone users and the utilization of the carrier's higher priced LTE network, the ARPU rose $1.11 to $40.80 in the quarter from last year's figure
source: MetroPCS
Now that three quarters are in the books, MetroPCS has added a net figure of nearly 1 million new customers and has brought in nearly $1 billion in EBITDA which is a gain of 13% from last year. 30% of MetroPCS customers are now using a smartphone with 46% of those choosing an Android device. Linquist says that toward the second half of next year, the company will be adding more Android devices at lower cost to the consumer, and with more functionality. At the same time, the executive said that he has a goal to move more MetroPCS customers over to the carrier's 4G LTE network. With the combination of more Android and smartphone users and the utilization of the carrier's higher priced LTE network, the ARPU rose $1.11 to $40.80 in the quarter from last year's figure
As big as MetroPCs has been getting, if speculation about the company buying some post-merger assets from AT&T is true, the pre-paid carrier will grow by leaps and bounds in the next few years.
source: MetroPCS
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: