Virgin Mobile USA profits fall 50 percent in Q2

Virgin Mobile USA Inc. announced its second-quarter profit plummeted as revenue declined and net subscriber losses exceeded the 100,000 mark. Virgin Mobile earned $3.5 million in Q2, down 50 percent from $7.1 million in the year-ago quarter--revenue fell 3 percent to $317.4 million from $327.6 million, and the operator lost 111,273 net customers, up from losses of 53,424 a year earlier. Virgin Mobile USA now boasts 4.99 million customers, up 3.4 percent from 4.83 million a year ago.

Average revenue per user for the second quarter declined 7.9 percent year-over-year to $19.32--ARPU for the first six months of 2008 was $19.63, off 9.5 percent against the first half of 2007. Virgin Mobile blamed the decline on lower customer usage of its traditional prepaid plans as well as an industry-wide trend substituting lower-cost messaging for voice. The operator forecasts ARPU trends will improve during the second half of the year thanks to a shift to higher-value hybrid customers as well as increased penetration of new voice and messaging services.

For more on Virgin Mobile USA's Q2 results:
- read this release

Related articles:
Virgin Mobile USA confirms Helio acquisition
Virgin Mobile USA teams with Limbo