T-Mobile USA data revenues up 25% year-over-year

T-Mobile USA reported fourth quarter service revenues of $4.69 billion, edging up from $4.65 billion a year earlier--the operator credited the increase to data revenue growth, contributions from handset insurance services and higher prepaid revenues via unlimited usage plans. T-Mobile USA now serves 33.73 million customers, slipping from 33.76 million sequentially and down from 33.79 million at the end of Q4 2009; blended churn increased to 3.6 percent, up from 3.4 percent in the third quarter of 2010 and 3.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, while contract churn was 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, up from 2.4 percent in Q3 2010 and consistent with the previous year.

T-Mobile USA posted Q4 2010 blended ARPU of $46, consistent year-over-year but down from $47 in the previous quarter. Contract ARPU totaled $52, consistent with the third quarter of 2010 and up from $51 a year ago. Data service revenues reached $1.29 billion, up 25 percent year-over-year--T-Mobile USA adds that data services represented 28 percent of blended ARPU, or $12.80 per customer, up from 27 percent ($12.40 per customer) in the third quarter and 22 percent ($10.20 per customer) in Q4 2009.

About 8.2 million T-Mobile USA customers now use smartphones, a net increase of 14 percent/1 million customers sequentially and more than double the operator's 3.9 million smartphone customers as of a year ago. T-Mobile USA added that while messaging remains a significant component of blended data ARPU, the increase in customers using smartphones and the ongoing upgrade of its network are galvanizing Internet access revenue growth via surging adoption of mobile broadband data plans. 

For more:
- read this release
- also check out FierceWireless' comprehensive Q4 2010 earnings coverage

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