By Will Feuer
Telephone and Data Systems reported lower revenue for the fourth quarter, dragged down by subscriber losses at U.S. Cellular, its wireless business that is exploring strategic alternatives.
TDS, a legacy telecommunications company, reported a fourth-quarter loss of $523 million, or $4.64 a share, compared with a loss of $43 million, or 38 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier.
Stripping out a $547 million non-cash charge related to goodwill impairment recorded at TDS Telecom, the loss was 11 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected a loss of 12 cents a share.
TDS’s operating revenue fell more than 3% to $1.31 billion, but topped the $1.28 billion that analysts expected.
Revenue at U.S. Cellular fell 5% to $1 billion while TDS Telecom sales rose 2%.
U.S. Cellular was hurt by a loss of 50,000 postpaid subscribers during the quarter. The closely watched churn rate also rose to 1.44%. U.S. Cellular’s postpaid average revenue per user rose 2%. The unit did cut costs and posted a quarterly operating profit of $21 million, compared with a year-ago operating loss of $27 million.
U.S. Cellular Chief Executive Laurent Therivel described the subscriber results as challenging, citing “an aggressive competitive environment.”
For 2024, TDS is targeting service revenue at U.S. Cellular of $2.95 billion to $3.05 billion. In 2023, U.S. Cellular reported service revenue of $3.04 billion.
The company is targeting annual TDS Telecom operating revenue of $1.07 billion to $1.1 billion, compared with $1.03 billion in 2023.
Write to Will Feuer at [email protected]
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