Communications Sector

[gfp927z]

NII Holdings -- >>> NII Holdings subscriber growth slows



November 7, 2012

Jeff Clabaugh

Washington Business Journal


http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2012/11/07/nii-holdings-subscriber-growth-slows.html?ana=yfcpc




Reston-based NII Holdings Inc. saw subscriber growth for its Nextel-branded wireless service in Latin America slow last quarter and customer defections rise as losses widened.

NII Holdings reports third-quarter revenue of $1.49 billion, down 15 percent from a year ago.

It posted a quarterly net loss of $82.4 million, or 48 cents per share, compared to a net loss of $300,000 and break even per-share results a year earlier.

NII Holdings has been rolling out a next generation 3G network in the markets it serves. That expense, plus currency fluctuations and competition weighed on last quarter's results.

The company ended the quarter with 11.4 million subscribers, up 11 percent from a year ago. But the number of new customers it signed up during the quarter was sharply lower, 152,500 compared to a net subscriber gain of 433,300 in the third quarter of 2011.

The churn rate rose to 2.65 percent from 1.78 percent, and the average revenue per customer fell to $37 a month, from $49.

NII Holdings (NASDAQ: NIHD) said Tuesday it would cut 20 percent of its workforce at its Reston headquarters and realign some of those jobs to its Latin American markets to reduce expenses.

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