United States Cellular Corp. posted a close to 42 percent profit on Wednesday, citing growing data revenue as a driver.
Net income grew to $89.9 million, with $16.4 million gained from selling off Rural Cellular to Verizon Wireless in August. Service revenue grew 6.2 percent to $1.01 billion. But the big story is the data revenue, which came in with a 34.5 percent growth percentage — making for $130.2 million in moola.
On the down side, it reported losing 18,000 customers during the third quarter, the first quarter without subscriber additions in a while.
Data revenue seems to be standing smaller wireless operators in good stead. Alltel this week posted a 42 percent rise in its data ARPU.
Will this increasing thirst for data services jumpstart the market for devices this Christmas season?
