T-Mobile USA, the U.S. operation of T-Mobile International, mobile communications subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, announced fourth quarter and full year 2004 results.
All financial amounts are in USD and are based on accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”) in order to provide comparability with the results of other U.S. wireless carriers. T-Mobile USA results are included in the consolidated results of Deutsche Telekom, but differ from the information contained herein as Deutsche Telekom reports its financial results in accordance with German generally accepted accounting principles.
In the fourth quarter of 2004, T-Mobile USA added 1,019,000 net new customers, compared with 901,000 added in the third quarter of 2004 and 1,015,000 in the fourth quarter of 2003. About 80% of the growth in the fourth quarter of 2004 came from new postpay customers, which currently comprise 89% of the total customer base.
“This has been a highly successful, award winning year for T-Mobile USA,” said Robert Dotson, President and CEO of T-Mobile USA. “Our ongoing commitment to quality and value was the key to attracting the 4.2 million net new customers we added in 2004 and in increasing our customer base by 32% since the end of 2003. Combining this growth with consistently strong ARPU — including strong data ARPU — demonstrates the quality of our subscriber base, and our commitment to the Get More promise. Furthermore, the superiority of the customer experience we deliver was recognized by J. D. Power and Associates in several 2004 regional and national studies, where they ranked T-Mobile highest in Customer Care Performance, Wireless Call Quality, Wireless Retail Satisfaction, and overall customer satisfaction for Wireless Telephone Users.”
T-Mobile USA reported OIBDA of $515 million in the fourth quarter of 2004 compared to $788 million in the third quarter of 2004 and $327 million in the fourth quarter of 2003. OIBDA for the fourth quarter of 2004 includes the $200 million cumulative charge related to lease accounting described above, of which $176 million relates to prior quarters of 2004 and earlier years. T-Mobile USA’s net loss for the fourth quarter of 2004 was $329 million. The fourth quarter net loss includes a $792 million loss provision, partially offset by a $448 million deferred tax benefit, related to the dissolution of our network sharing joint venture with Cingular, completed on January 5, 2005, as described further below. The net loss also includes the $143 million cumulative net charge from the lease accounting correction described above, virtually all of which relates to prior quarters of 2004 and earlier years. Additional information is provided in Note 1 of the footnotes to Selected Data below.
“T-Mobile USA had a strong 2004, continuing to effectively balance strong customer growth with solid financial results,” said Rene Obermann, CEO of T-Mobile International and Member of the Board of Management, Deutsche Telekom. “2004 OIBDA of $2.5 billion represents a 57% increase over 2003. This continued OIBDA improvement was achieved even with a 32% increase in the T-Mobile USA customer base over the past 12 months.”
T-Mobile USA service revenues, which consist of postpay, prepaid, and roaming and other service revenues, were $2.75 billion in the fourth quarter of 2004, up from $2.61 billion in the third quarter of 2004 and $1.98 billion in the fourth quarter of 2003. In addition to high customer growth, revenue increases in 2004 reflect inclusion of two new components compared to 2003: Universal Service Fund (“USF”) recovery fees and regulatory cost recovery fees. Both items are explained further in the footnotes to Selected Data, below.
murdok | Breaking eBusiness News
Your source for investigative ebusiness reporting and breaking news.
