US Cellular has posted a net loss of $200.12m, or $2.29 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2008, compared to a net income of $29.21m, or $0.33 per diluted share, in the same quarter of 2007.
The company posted total operating revenues of $1.05 billion for the fourth quarter of 2008, up 2.8% compared to $1.02 billion in the corresponding period of 2007.
For the full year 2008, the company posted a net income of $32.99m, or $0.38 per diluted share, down 89.5% compared to $314.73m, or $3.56 per diluted share, in 2007. The company posted total operating revenues of $4.24 billion for 2008, up 7.5% from $3.95 billion in 2007.
John Rooney, president and CEO of US Cellular, said: We finished the year with some solid operating results, despite difficult economic conditions. We added 41,000 net retail postpay customers in the quarter, postpay being the market segment we focus on given our high customer satisfaction model. In fact, 95% of our retail customers are postpay. Spending on advertising and promotions remained high given the aggressive competition and waning consumer confidence.
