MEXICO CITY -(Dow Jones)- Spanish wireless phone operator Telefonica Moviles SA said Thursday that it added 129,000 subscribers in Mexico in the third quarter, bringing its roster back to 6 million, up 33% from a year ago.
In reporting its global earnings for the July-September period, Telefonica Moviles said the quarter was a seasonally slow one in Mexico for growth, although it managed to reduce churn among its post-paid contract subscribers.
Telefonica Moviles Mexico, the second-largest wireless operator in the country after America Movil SA (AMX) unit Telcel, had purged 300,000 inactive prepaid subscribers from its lists in the second quarter.
Of its total subscribers at the end of September, 84% were on the GSM network. Prepaid users totaled 5.7 million and postpaid totaled 284,000.
Telefonica Moviles said its Mexican revenues in the quarter rose 33% year-on-year to EUR192 million from EUR144 million, with lower interconnection rates offsetting some of the gains from higher traffic volume. Minutes of use were 47, and average revenue per user was 124 pesos, or EUR9.54.
Its operating loss before amortization also expanded by a third to EUR34 million, but was smaller than the EUR48 million operating loss in the second quarter.
The unit invested EUR67 million in the quarter, compared with EUR237 million a year ago.
Among Telefonica Moviles' competitors in Mexico, market leader Telcel had 33.6 million subscribers at the end of the quarter, Grupo Iusacell had 1.7 million, and Unefon SA had 1.4 million.
-By Anthony Harrup, Dow Jones Newswires; (5255) 5080-3450; anthony.harrup@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires"
Posted to the site on 3rd November 2005
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/14684.php