Regional Operators See Surge In Roaming Minutes

[TNDan21]

Regional Operators See Surge In Roaming Minutes
By Margo McCall
August 7, 2002
news@2 direct


Growth in roaming minutes helped boost the results of regional players Dobson Communications and Triton PCS.

Oklahoma City-based Dobson reports today that its roaming minutes of use rose to 252.6 million minutes in the second quarter, 34 percent higher than the same quarter in 2001. Triton, an AT&T Wireless affiliate, reported roaming minutes of 234.8 million, up 51 percent from the year-ago quarter. The increased minutes helped Triton raise its roaming revenue to $45.5 million, up from $32.3 million in the second quarter of 2001.

Roaming revenue was up at Dobson's American Cellular joint venture, but declined to $60.9 million from $64.6 million in the year-ago quarter for the organization overall.

The increased roaming minutes are encouraging: Analysts have worried because national players are reducing what they'll pay under new roaming agreements, meaning regional carriers would lose a key source of future revenue.

Dobson's consolidated net loss swelled to $132.1 million from $53.4 million in the same period of last year, although total revenue rose to $217.8 million from $206.3 million in the year-ago quarter.

Including American Cellular, Dobson added 38,350 net new customers, compared with 30,150 in the second quarter of 2001. Average revenue per user was steady at $43, while its churn rate declined to 1.7 percent, from 1.8 percent in the same quarter last year.

Triton PCS added 44,300 net new customers and saw its churn rate rise slightly to 2 percent, from 1.9 percent in the second quarter of 2001. ARPU increased to $58.42, $3 higher than the previous quarter.

Total revenue increased to $184.7 million, from $135.7 million in year-ago quarter. Triton's net loss narrowed to $33.6 million from $45.3 million in last year's second quarter.

In light of strong demand for roaming, Triton now expects to record 900 million roaming minutes, instead of the 800 million initially expected this year. Some 64 percent of Triton's roaming minutes come from AT&T Wireless, and another 24 percent from Cingular Wireless. Dobson doesn't foresee an increase in roaming revenue this year or next year, on account of the 'stepdowns' taking effect in its various roaming agreements. After that, the carrier expects rates to stabilize.

Regional Operators See Surge In Roaming Minutes

[roamer1]

Most of Dobson's roaming is from AT&T and Cingular customers just like with Triton (and American Cellular is a JV between Dobson and AT&T)... Verizon in particular has been pulling roamers AWAY from Dobson once Verizon got what they wanted from Dobson (GA-1, TN-4, Sandusky OH, Imperial County CA, and the central AZ area)...although they haven't moved A-side customers to Ramcell and Cingular [Lexington SID not EKY SID] in SE KY yet...

-SC