Alltel hits five-year ARPU high

A 16% jump in wireless revenues drove a solid quarter for Alltel, which hit a five-year high in average revenue per wireless customer as well. Wireline revenue was down two percent and wireline income was off eight percent, however, despite the addition of 36,000 DSL customers and a slight one percent increase in wireline ARPU.

Revenues from Alltel’s wireless operations, which completed the merger with Western Wireless earlier this week, was $1.5 billion or almost three times the revenues of its wireline business, at $595 million. Net wireless income was $307 million, a 17 percent increase. Data revenue helped push Alltel’s wireless ARPU to $50.55, up six percent year-over-year and the highest ARPU in 5 years. The company churn rate remained flat at 1.58 percent.

Total revenues were $2.3 billion, an 11 percent increase from a year ago. Net income was $402 million, a 53 percent increase. Net income from current businesses was $284 million, an 8 percent increase from a year ago.

“Alltel's wireless business delivered another strong performance, demonstrated by our industry-leading ARPU growth,” said Scott Ford, Alltel president and CEO, in a prepared statement. “We are very pleased with the way our business has performed over the first half of the year and excited about the prospects for continued growth with the completion of the Western Wireless merger.”