U.S. Cellular Corp. (USM) said it expects to report service
revenue for 2010 "just slightly below" the low end of its
forecast.
Service revenue accounts for the vast bulk of the wireless
company's top line, with the remainder coming from equipment sales.
It has recently been losing postpaid subscribers amid increasing
competition in a wireless industry nearly saturated with
cellphones. Big carriers have continued to add subscribers on the
strength of marquee handsets.
It also said it ended the year with about 6.1 million customers,
unchanged from the number it had reported for the end of 2009. It
lost 10,000 postpaid customers and 11,000 prepaid customers in the
latest quarter, after gaining 26,000 and 13,000, respectively, in
the year-earlier period.
Meanwhile, parent Telephone & Data Systems Inc. (TDS) said
it expects revenue to be at the high end of its forecast. Full
results are due Feb. 24.
U.S. Cellular shares closed Wednesday at $49.31 while TDS
finished at $35.68. Neither was active premarket.
-By Matt Jarzemsky, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2240;
matthew.jarzemsky@dowjones.com