Miami— Almost everything’s coming up roses for no-contract cellular MVNO TracFone Wireless, owner America Movil reported.
America Movil of Mexico City is Latin America’s largest cellphone carrier. It also operates landline phone and broadband networks and pay-TV service. TracFone sells service under the Telcel America, Straight Talk, Simple Mobile, NET 10 and Safe Link Wireless brands.
In the quarter, TracFone increased the number of net new subscribers by 127 percent to 839,000, bringing its subscriber base to 23.2 million, up 15.4 percent from the year-ago quarter.
Revenues were up year over year by 39.8 percent to $1.5 billion, the average subscriber’s minutes of use were up 30 percent year-over-year to 526, average revenue per user rose to $19 from $16, and the churn rate fell to 3.7 percent from a year-ago 3.9 percent.
EBITDA margin, however, fell to 4.5 percent from 12.9 percent, which the company said was “mostly related to the fast pace of subscriber growth and its impact on subscriber acquisition costs.”
TracFone’s parent did not reveal TracFone operating profits.
In fiscal 2012, TracFone posted double-digit percentage gains in revenues and faster subscriber growth compared to the year-ago periods.
TracFone’s subscriber statistics include TracFone’s June 2012 acquisition of no-contract provider Simple Mobile, which had more than 1 million subscribers at the time.
For its part, America Movil reported a consolidated net income of 26.9 Mexican pesos ($2.19 billion), down 17.4 percent from the year ago, on a 0.2 percent revenue gain to 193 million pesos ($15.7 billion.)
