T-Mobile USA reported first-quarter net income of $462 million, up from $315 million a year ago--service revenues increased 14 percent to $4.57 billion from $3.99 billion in Q1 2007, growth the operator attributed to an increase of contract customers. T-Mobile USA added 981,000 new customers during the quarter, crossing the 30 million subscriber mark--churn fell to 1.7 percent in Q1 2008, down from 1.9 percent a year ago, although ARPU slipped to $51, a $1 decline from last year. Data services revenues were $760 million in the quarter, accounting for 16.6 percent of ARPU or $8.50 per customer, up from 15.8 percent/ $8.20 in the fourth quarter of 2007 and 14.3 percent/$7.50 in Q1 2007. According to T-Mobile USA, messaging revenues remain the primary driver behind data growth: The operator reports SMS and MMS swelled to 33 billion in the first quarter of 2008, compared to 24 billion in the previous quarter and 16 billion a year earlier. T-Mobile USA cited the popularity of its myFaves unlimited rate plan as a major catalyst behind its messaging growth.

For more on T-Mobile USA's Q1 results:
- read this release [1]

Related articles:
Crush or Flush bows on T-Mobile USA [2]
T-Mobile USA [3] adds JuiceCaster
T-Mobile USA [4] befriends MySpace Mobile