» Cingular Wireless Reports Growth in Subscriber Additions and ProfitsTelecommunications Industry News

Telecom News Editorials Reports Glossary

Cingular Wireless Reports Growth in Subscriber Additions and Profits

8:00 am on July 21, 2006 | Category: Business, Cell Phones, Telecom Services, Wireless

Americaâ€™s top cell phone carrier, Cingular Wireless, announced its second-quarter net income and revenue yesterday, pleasantly surprising investors with better-than-expected subscriber growth and profit.

Cingular, which is a joint venture of AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp. generated a total of $540 million in net income for the quarter, compared to just $147 million in the same period last year. Revenue came in at $9.2 billion, a respectable jump from $8.6 billion in Q2 2005.

High subscriber additions, however, was the companyâ€™s biggest victory last quarter. It managed to recruit a total of 1.5 million (net) customers, which is well above the average prediction of 1.2 million.

â€œWe believe these numbers clearly demonstrate Cingular captured share in the quarter from Sprint and from T-Mobile,â€ commented Roe Equity Research analyst, Kevin Roe, who believes that the #3 and #4 carriers are failing to keep up with Cingularâ€™s tough pace.

The wireless leader also managed to make gains in the way of profit margin, a figure which reached 32.6% last quarter. This is a noticeable improvement over last year, but still falls short of margins recently reported by rival, Verizon Wireless.

Telecommunications Industry News