Cingular: ARPU down, but 1Q solid

Though its average revenue per user for the first quarter of 2006 was 2.3% lower than the same quarter the previous year, Cingular Wireless issued a first-quarter earnings statement today that was generally positive, with improving customer retention and data ARPU among the highlights.

The largest carrier in the U.S. reported 1.9% overall postpaid and prepaid customer churn for the quarter, which Cingular CEO Stan Sigman said is the lowest the company has ever reported. Postpaid churn stood at 1.6%, another record low. Net customer additions for the quarter were 1.7 million, modest considering the number was roughly flat compared to the previous quarter and about 300,000 more sign-ups than the first quarter of 2005. The company now has 55.8 million subscribers.

While the overall ARPU of $48.48 was lower, Cingular blamed the drop on an increase in its wholesale customer base. Within the overall number, the company reported data ARPU of $5.22, which it said offset the lower overall number and was up more than 41% over the first quarter of 2005. Company officials said mobile gaming, ringtones and text messaging are among the fastes-growing data applications, and that Cingular now has about 25 million data users.

Meanwhile total revenue for the quarter was $9 billion, which was up 9% from the same quarter in 2005, and net income was reported at $354 million, which was a vast improvement of the net loss of $240 million in the first quarter of 2005.

Revisit this story later today for further details on Cingular's 1Q performance.