Leap Wireless International says it gained about 435,000 customers during the fourth quarter of 2010, including about 115,000 net customer additions and 320,000 former customers of Pocket Communications through a joint venture it entered into last year.
Leap’s net customer additions for the fourth quarter were comprised of approximately 162,000 voice net customer additions and a net loss of about 48,000 broadband customers, bringing total net customer additions for 2010 to roughly 249,000.
In a statement, Leap President and CEO Doug Hutcheson said the results reflect the positive transition that the company started in the third quarter to align the business with changing needs of customers and to improve its financial performance.
Customer churn for the fourth quarter was 4 percent, an improvement over the same quarter last year. Leap ended the year with 5.53 million customers.
Shares in Leap were up more than 5 percent at one point this morning.