With the imminent introduction of its LTE network and vast fall smartphone lineup , US Cellular’s a regional carrier with plenty to see forward to. But its efforts over the second one quarter, paired with the hopes of a bright future ahead, weren’t enough to maintain a couple of thousand customers from parting ways. While lots of the reported figures were quite pleasant year-over-year — service revenues bumped up three percent to $1 billion, percentage of smartphones sold skyrocketed to almost 40 percent, ARPU increased to $51.84, and total operating income shot up an entire 61 percent — the corporate also experienced a lack of 58,000 customers over the process three months. The carrier doesn’t seem too worried about this actual figure, however, because it stated its excitement concerning the launch of its 4G service later this year. Will the grim and cold winter become warm and toasty due to a blazing-hot network? We’re wanting to discover. Hit the source link for the total quarterly earnings.
CHICAGO, Aug. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ –
Note: Comparisons are year over year unless otherwise noted.
2Q 2011 Highlights
-Smartphones sold, as a percent of total devices sold, increased to 39.6 percent from 15.8 percent.
-Service revenues were $1,002.0 million, up 3 percent.
-Postpaid ARPU (average revenue per unit) increased to $51.84 from $50.55.
-Postpaid churn improved to one.38 percent from 1.43 percent.
-Operating income increased 61 percent to $102.4 million.
-Net lack of 58,000 retail customers, reflecting lack of 41,000 postpaid customers and 17,000 prepaid customers; postpaid customers comprised 95 percent of retail customers.
-Cell sites in service increased 5 percent to 7,770, of which 4,400 are owned towers.
Repurchased 918,942 common shares for $45.0 million.
As previously announced, U.S. Cellular will hold a teleconference Aug. 8, 2011 at 7:30 a.m. CDT. Interested parties may hearken to the decision live by accessing the Investor Relations page of uscellular.com or www.teldta.com.
United states of america Cellular Corporation (NYSE :USM) reported service revenues of $1,002.0 million for the second one quarter of 2011, versus $972.6 million within the comparable period twelve months ago. Net income caused by U.S. Cellular shareholders and related diluted earnings per share were $73.9 million and $0.87, respectively, for the second one quarter of 2011, in comparison to $40.8 million and $0.47, respectively, inside the comparable period 365 days ago.
“We continued to extend postpaid ARPU and maintain a low churn rate,” said Mary N. Dillon, U.S. Cellular president and CEO, “although our subscriber results continue to mirror the extraordinary competitive environment and the weak economy. This remains our best challenge. Our new advertising strategies are beginning to increase awareness among potential switchers, and we’re working hard to interrupt through to our target customers and leverage that awareness to enhance gross additions.
“Smartphones sales continued to be strong, and we also saw a rise in sales of information plans for feature phones within the quarter. By balancing device subsidies among a much broader range of both feature phones and smartphones, we were ready to better control our loss on equipment. Overall, operating margins improved within the quarter because of higher ARPU, increased roaming revenue and good expense control, with fewer gross additions contributing to lower sales and marketing expenses.
“We have now 2.3 million customers on our Belief Plans, and we’re complementing those plans with some very exciting phones and devices. This quarter we added the brand new HTC 7 Pro(TM) with Windows Phone 7®, the recent Android(TM)-powered HTC Merge™ Global Ready smartphone, and the Motorola Xoom™ tablet. And we’ve got more feature-packed phones, smartphones and tablets at the way. We’re also enthusiastic about our coming launch of 4G.”
Second quarter transactions
U.S. Cellular paid $24.6 million in cash to buy the rest interest in a wireless business wherein it previously held a non-controlling interest. Consequently, the corporate recorded a $13.4 million pre-tax gain on investments.
Additionally, U.S. Cellular sold $342 million of 6.95 percent senior notes and redeemed $330 million of its 7.5 percent senior notes. The redemption required U.S. Cellular to put in writing off $8.2 million of previously capitalized debt issuance costs regarding the 7.5 percent senior notes. The $8.2 million was recorded in interest expense.
Guidance for year ending Dec. 31, 2011
Guidance for the year ending Dec. 31, 2011, as of Aug. 8, 2011, is equipped below, when compared with the former guidance provided on May 6, 2011. U.S. Cellular undertakes no duty to update such information, whether because of the new information, future events, or otherwise. There may well be no assurance that outcome can not differ materially from this guidance.
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