T-Mobile USA reported Q1 2008 net income of USD462 million, up from USD315 million a year ago. Operating revenues increased 14% to USD4.57 billion from USD3.99 billion in the first quarter of 2007. The operator passed the 30 million subscriber mark during the quarter adding a total of 981,000 new customers (including newly acquired SunCom subscribers). Average monthly churn fell to 1.7% down from 1.9 % for the same quarter twelve months ago. Average revenue per user (ARPU) dipped slightly to USD51 per month, down USD1 from 2007. Data services revenues were USD760 million in the quarter, accounting for 16.6% of ARPU. Unlike many other operators, T-Mobile attributed the growth of data revenues to SMS and MMS which reached 33 billion in the first quarter of 2008, compared to 24 billion in the previous quarter and 16 billion a year earlier. The operator claimed its myFaves unlimited rate plan was the main driver behind its messaging growth.

Original Source: TeleGeography CommsUpdate