Profits & Losses: January 2008 Archives

T-Mobile USA increased mobile phone subscribers by nearly a million in the fourth quarter. T-Mobile USA announced it added 951,000 subscribers in October to December, giving it 28.7 million by the end of 2007 which is up 14.6 percent from a year ago.

T-Mobile USA CEO and president Robert Dotson said, “myFaves was a major contributor to this growth, with 5 million customers at year-end using the service to make unlimited calls to the people who matter most to them.”

Verizon Wireless profits and subscribers were up in fourth quarter 2007 while landlines decreased. Verizon had a 10.6 percent drop in consumer lines due to stiff competition. Verizon lost 875,000 phone lines in the quarter, including 476,000 primary home-phone lines, as customers switched to cable voice plans or began using wireless service exclusively.

Verizon Wireless wast  the most profitable domestic wireless company and the largest in terms of retail customers.  In the fourth quarter:

• Total customers increased to 65.7 million, up 11.3 percent year-over-year.

• 1.6 million of a total 2.0 million (retail and wholesale) net customer additions were retail post-paid customers.

• Verizon Wireless continued its industry-leading customer loyalty, with 1.20 percent total churn.  Churn among retail post-paid customers, 93 percent of all its customers, was under 1.0 percent for the quarter and the full year.

• Total revenues in the quarter were $11.4 billion, up 13.3 percent; service revenues were $9.9 billion, up 13.7 percent, driven by customer growth and demand for data services.  Full-year revenues were $43.9 billion, up 15.3 percent.

• ARPU (average monthly revenue per customer) levels increased year-over-year for the seventh consecutive quarter: retail ARPU of $51.49 was up 1.4 percent; retail data ARPU of $11.06 was up 36.0 percent.

• Wireless operating income margin was 26.2 percent.  EBITDA margin on service revenues (non-GAAP) was 43.6 percent.  (EBITDA is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.)

• Customers sent nearly 45 billion text messages and 927 million picture/video messages.

• Customers completed 30 million music and video downloads. 

• Verizon Wireless continued to extend the reach of its nationwide high-speed wireless broadband network, powered by EV-DO Revision A (Rev. A) technology, making it available to more than 240 million Americans by year-end.  More than half of the company’s retail customers — 35 million — had broadband-capable devices by year-end.

Nokia had a very good year also reporting:

• 34% increase in revenue.
• 27% jump in handset shipments during the fourth quarter of 2007.
• 40% market share selling 135.5 million handsets.
• 44% increase in its fourth-quarter profit.
• Operating profit for the quarter was 2.49 billion euros, up 64% from 1.52 billion euros in the same period last year

AT&T had a very good year end:

• It added nearly 2.7 million wireless subscribers ending 2007 with 70.1 million subscribers.
• ARPU was up 2 percent to $50.28.
• 16.3 percent increase in total wireless revenues
• Data revenues increased 57.5 percent over the same period in 2006.
• There were 2 million AT&T iPhone users, 40 percent of whom were new to AT&T.
• The company posted net income of $3.14 billion.

For full financial information continue reading.

Sprint announced initial plans to streamline its business with reductions across the company including approximately 4,000 internal positions and reduced use of outsourced services. The company also expects to eliminate more than 4,000 third-party distribution points and to close approximately 125, or 8 percent, of its company-owned retail locations.

Sprint Nextel currently expects these actions to reduce its internal and external labor costs by an annualized rate of $700-$800 million by the end of 2008.

For the fourth quarter Sprint Nextel reported a net gain of 500,000 subscribers through wholesale channels, growth of 256,000 Boost Unlimited users and net additions of 20,000 subscribers within affiliate channels. These gains were offset by net losses of 683,000 post-paid subscribers and 202,000 traditional pre-paid users.