Cingular Sees Second Highest Ever Net Growth

Cingular Wireless, a joint venture between SBC Communications and BellSouth Corporation says that it achieved net subscriber additions of 642,000 in the final quarter of last year, bringing its nationwide cellular/PCS customer base to over 24 million. Gross adds in the fourth quarter totaled 2.6 million, the second highest quarter in Cingular's history -- bested only by third-quarter 2003's 2.7 million. Churn was 2.8%, in line with third-quarter 2003 results.

Porting requests under wireless local number portability rules implemented in November were below expectations and not a significant factor in the quarter's results.

Cingular has achieved this subscriber growth while executing a nationwide network overlay of a next generation GSM/GPRS technology. As of Dec. 31, Cingular's GSM/GPRS network was available to 93% of the company's operational POPs, up from approximately 66% six months earlier and 81% at the end of the third quarter. Cingular continues to run ahead of its original schedule for GSM/GPRS deployment and expects to achieve 100% coverage of its network in 2004.

Customer response to GSM/GPRS continues to be strong as 57% of Cingular's total minutes are now carried on the GSM network. At year's end, more than 45 percent of Cingular's handsets in service were GSM capable, up from 27 percent at the end of the second quarter of 2003 and 35 percent at the end of the third quarter.

"Cingular took huge steps forward in 2003," said Stan Sigman, President and CEO of Cingular Wireless, "and I am very proud of how well Cingular's talented employees executed over the past year. We accelerated subscriber growth. We moved our nationwide network conversion forward ahead of schedule, delighting customers with the quality of GSM. And we delivered a host of innovations through new data services and products that integrate wireless and wireline communications."

"Now, our clear goal is to move Cingular to the next level," Sigman continued, "and build an even stronger foundation for sustained growth. The keys are outstanding network performance and a world-class customer experience. To achieve these goals, we have launched two major initatives. The first is a nationwide drive to improve coverage and network quality. We started this initiative in the fourth quarter by adding more than 750 cell sites, and it will continue through 2004. This program builds on the progress we've made with GSM/GPRS and the moves we've made to add spectrum. The second initiative, which also has already begun, is a comprehensive enhancement of our customer service systems and procedures. While these projects pressure margins in the near term, they will strengthen our growth prospects long term. I am very confident in our ability to deliver on these initiatives, and I am excited about what Cingular can accomplish in 2004."

Posted to the site on 23rd January 2004