U.S. Cellular beefs up ARPU but net adds slow

U.S. Cellular reported that its net subscribers additions slowed down during the fourth quarter last year, but ARPU continues to climb. The carrier added 55,000 net new subscribers during the quarter for a total subscriber base of 6.1 million. The additions mark a 36 percent drop, however, from the fourth quarter in 2006. The quarter brought in 70,000 postpaid subscribers and saw the departure of 6,000 prepaid customers and 9,000 customers from resellers. U.S. Cellular's revenues increased by more than 13 percent up to $1 billion thanks to an increased ARPU of $52.46, up from $48.15 during the fourth quarter of 2006.

For more on the carrier's quarter:
- read this article from TeleGeography
- and see this table to compare U.S. Cellular's metrics to its rivals