Amid rapid growth, MetroPCS will remain independent

MetroPCS is the darling of the prepaid sector. They just added a record number of subscribers in the first quarter, and things don’t seem to be slowing down. They have a number of new handsets on the way, including the Huawei M750 and the ZTE C90. But most importantly to the company, it recently raised half a billion dollars from a note sale, allowing it to remain an independent company. This could lead to big things for the carrier. In fact, the money has left Metro with so many options that CEO Roger Linquist doesn’t quite know what to do with it. The obvious thing would be to help with its LTE network, which it plans to roll out next year. There are other possibilities, of course, one of which being to acquire smaller carriers, just like Verizon and AT&T have been doing for years. This might even allow them to acquire enough spectrum to become a nationwide player. It’s too early to say for certain, but Linquist put it perfectly when he said the company is in a “sweet spot” right now. Also benefitting Metro is its newfound status as a landline replacement. Not only does its flat-rate, unlimited calling scheme work well for landline replacement in itself, but they’ve also added a feature called groupLINE, which provides a central number which rings all cell phones in a family. This, they think, is the next step in landline replacement. Says CFO J. Braxton Carter: “We’re perfectly situationed to aggressively grow market share in these difficult times.” Despite a promising first quarter, Metro will not revise their year-long outlook. They’re still expecting 1.4 to 1.7 million subscribers during the year, even though they were close to half the low-end expectation after Q1. They should have more details on the year-long outlook once the second quarter closes.]]>