Just because they’re getting setup to be absorbed by No. 2 (for now, at least) US wireless carrier Verizon Wireless doesn’t mean they don’t have to, or want to, for that matter, increase their presence in the US. Alltel has done a bang-up job at amassing more customers to keep in their subscriber piggy-bank. In the second quarter, Alltel added a healthy 319,687 wireless users.
Alltel says that post-paid subscriber additions, the most coveted type of subscriber, accounted for 217,047 net additions – representing a 20% increase over the same period last year. As for the all-important ARPU metric (Average Revenue Per User), Alltel earned $54.42, which is a 1% increase from Q2 last year. Data ARPU hit $8.18, a 45% increase year-on-year.
Still, despite a healthy infusion of customers, increased ARPU on both the voice and data side of their business, and $2.39 billion in revenue (up 10% year-on-year), Alltel lost $69.9 million in the second quarter. The carrier points to increases in interest costs and depreciation, and expenses incurred in during the buy-out by TPG Capital and GS Capital Partners in November.
[Via: RCRNews]