Western Wireless Delays 4Q Release, Cites Lease Accounting"

BELLEVUE, Wash. (Dow Jones)--Western Wireless Corp. (WWCA) will delay the release of its fourth-quarter and full-year 2004 financial results, originally scheduled for Thursday, pending completion of a review of its accounting for operating leases.

The provider of wireless communications services said in a press release Wednesday it will announce a rescheduled date for releasing the results on or before March 16.

Western Wireless said it will change its accounting for operating leases, primarily on cell sites, to conform to generally accepted accounting principles, but hasn't determined the impact of the change on fourth-quarter results.

However, the company reported fourth-quarter domestic net customer additions of 36,600. Average monthly churn for the period was 2.0%, down from 2.4% in the third quarter and 2.1% in the year-ago fourth quarter. Total customers at Dec. 31 were 1,395,400.

For the fourth quarter, net postpaid and prepaid customer additions for Western Wireless International's six consolidated businesses totaled 204,900. Total customers at Dec. 31 for the consolidated businesses were 1,783,900.

Western Wireless International's Austrian unit, Tele.ring, added 62,600 mobile customers during the quarter, and had 904,300 mobile customers at the end of the period. The company's Irish business, Meteor Mobile, added 88,000 customers during the quarter, ending the period with 339,600 customers, virtually all of them prepaid. Western Wireless International also had 130,400 fixed-line customers, primarily in its Austrian operations.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call, on average, expect the company to earn 33 cents a share for the fourth quarter and $1.52 a share for 2004. Consolidated results for the year-earlier period weren't immediately available.

Western Wireless said it launched a review of its accounting for operating leases in response to recent clarifications from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Dozens of telecommunications providers, retailers and restaurant operators have recently restated financial results because of lease-accounting problems in the wake of the SEC statement, which clarified its stance on the way companies have been accounting for leases.

In January, Little Rock, Ark.-based telecommunications company Alltel Corp. (AT) agreed to acquire Western Wireless for about $6 billion in cash and stock. The Justice Department recently asked for more information on the deal, which is still expected to close by the middle of the year.

Class A shares of Western Wireless recently traded at $38.83, down 13 cents, or 0.4%, on Nasdaq.

-Tom Rojas; Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 9th March 2005