Yes, it’s kind of late for third quarter reports. But, since Leap inaccurately reported its subscriber data dating back to 2004, they’re a bit behind this time around. They’ve announced their third quarter data, with the older quarters due for a report by December 31. This one, though, wasn’t all that great. The company added 40,000 new subscribers, which is far behind rivals MetroPCS (114,000) and Boost Unlimited (124,000). This puts them at 2.7 million subscribers total — we think, since there is the issue of them recording non-existent customers — which is still significantly behind Metro. The problem, as it is for most in prepaid, was churn rate. It rose from 4.3 percent in the third quarter of 2006 to 5.2 percent last quarter. Although churn rates for prepaid are notably high, crossing the 5-percent threshold is something no company wishes to do. The company does estimate that they will gain somewhere between 70,000 and 130,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter, and will see churn revert back to around 4.7 percent. CEO Doug Hutcheson has also stated that Jump and Cricket will introduce new prepaid plans this quarter, though no specifics were revealed. They also plan to add a trial of an EV-DO broadband network this quarter, to operate in five of Leap’s markets. If successful, the trial will expand and new devices will be made available. So for all the trouble Leap’s gotten in, it seems they’re doing plenty to try and improve their position in the market. [RCR Wireless News]]]>
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