Record low churn for Alltel

Alltel reported that its net income fell 23 percent year-on-year, but last year the carrier still had its landline business, which helped boost the bottom line. Alltel's net income totaled $230.1 million, down from $297.4 million last year. Revenue climbed 13 percent to $2.08 billion, up from $1.84 billion. Alltel added 237,000 net new subscribers during the quarter. The carrier's churn rate came in at 1.77 percent, which it characterized as a record low. ARPU jumped 2 percent year-on-year to hit $52.49, while data revenue rose 64 percent to $4.70. This last quarter is only the second one since the carrier spun off its landline business and merged it with Valor to form Windstream.

Rumors have swirled around a potential acquisition of Alltel, most recently by AT&T. During the conference call, Alltel CEO Scott Ford would not comment on the rumor talk.

For more on Alltel's quarter:
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)