Messaging drives T-Mobile USA's Q4 data revenue growth

T-Mobile USA reported fourth quarter net income of $483 million, up from the $442 million total the operator posted in the third quarter of 2008 and a $100 million year-over-year increase. T-Mobile USA's total Q4 revenues grew to $5.72 billion from $5.07 billion in the year earlier--the company ended 2008 with total sales climbing 13.5 percent to $ 21.9 billion compared with the previous year. T-Mobile USA added 621,000 net new customers in the fourth quarter, bringing its total for the year to 4.1 million. The carrier now serves a subscriber base of 32.8 million, adding that 7.7 million consumers now use its community-oriented MyFaves unlimited rate plan, up from 7 million at the end of Q3. Contract churn was 2.4 percent, in line with third quarter totals but up from 1.8 percent a year ago.

T-Mobile USA's Q4 data services revenues increased 31 percent year-over-year to $905 million, representing 18.5 percent of blended ARPU/$9.30 per customer, up from 17.3 percent of blended ARPU/$8.90 per customer in the third quarter and an increase of 15.8 percent over Q4 2007, when data accounted for $8.20 per customer. According to T-Mobile USA, message revenue remains the catalyst behind its data revenue growth as customers continue to purchase unlimited voice and data plans. The T-Mobile USA network carried 57 billion messages in the fourth quarter of 2008, compared to 49 billion in the third quarter and 24 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007. The operator also cites continued growth in converged device users as another significant driver behind the data revenue increase, adding that the fourth quarter also saw the introduction of its web2go service, which promises an improved mobile web browsing experience.

For more on T-Mobile USA's Q4 revenues:
- read this release

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