Nextel roars out of 2001 loss

After posting a $2.8 billion net loss at the end of 2001, Nextel Communications this morning reported profits for the fourth quarter of 2002 and the year, crediting strong corporate sales and new customer additions even as competition from other carriers is set to intensify.

For the fourth quarter, the nation’s fifth-largest mobile carrier reported earnings of $1.46 billion, or $1.38 per share. In fourth-quarter 2001, the bleak news was a $1.88 billion loss, for a per-share loss of $2.25. For the full year of 2002, Nextel recovered from its previous loss by posting of net profit of $1.66 billion. Its EBITDA for the year was $3.1 billion, a 67% increase over 2001.

Nextel President and CEO Tim Donohue said the company had a 24% increase in revenue to $8.7 billion for 2002, and also gained about 2 million new customers for the year, 503,000 of which came in the fourth quarter.

With a monthly average revenue per subscriber of about $70 coming from its core market of corporate users, and lower-than-industry-average churn of about 2.1%, other large wireless carriers have been eyeing Nextel’s recipe for success. Push-to-talk applications similar to those Nextel has pioneered are expected to grow throughout the industry this year.

Still, Donohue gave optimistic guidance for 2003, forecasting an EBITDA of no less than $3.8 billion.