 Grupo Iusacell Estimates 740,000 Cellular Customers at Year End and Announces
Revised 1998 Quarterly Customer Base and Enhancement of VIVA Prepay Card Program
December 22, 1998 |
Media contact: | Howard F. Zuckerman
Executive VP and CFO
011-525-109-5761 Ian C. Muir
Director of Investor Relations
011-525-109-5755 |
MEXICO CITY - Grupo Iusacell (BMV: IUSACELL,
NYSE: CEL and CEL.D) announced today that it expects to close the
year with approximately 740,000 cellular subscribers, which would
represent an increase of approximately 85% against the 1997 year-
end subscriber base.
The Company further announced that as a result of having
substantially completed the conversion of its prepay product to a
new platform (VIVA), it has updated its cellular customer database
and is restating its 1998 quarterly minutes of use (MOU), average
monthly revenue per subscriber (ARPU) and customer count.
Previously reported financial statement information does not need
to be adjusted.
As restated, and as originally reported, cellular customer base,
growth rate, net additions, MOU and ARPU are as follows:
EOP Customer Base Growth vs. Same Q97 Net Additions
1998 Restated Reported Restated Reported Restated Reported
1Q 474,272 480,741 89% 91% 74,149 80,618
2Q 550,569 563,425 95% 100% 76,297 80,684
3Q 627,858 661.562 86% 95% 77,289 90.317 MOU ARPU
1998 Restated Reported Restated Reported
1Q 94 94 401 400
2Q 88 87 373 366
3Q 87 83 347 334 The Company also announced that in mid-November it extended the life of
its VIVA prepay cards to a maximum of 180 days to allow for greater
flexibility in their use. A VIVA customer will now have 90 days to
activate or replenish their card, after the balance on their existing
card becomes zero.
************
Grupo Iusacell is a leading independent telecommunications company in
Mexico. It is the wireless cellular service provider in four of
Mexico's nine regions in the central portion of Mexico (including
Mexico City) covering a total of 67 million POPs, representing 69% of
the country's total population. The auctions won for wireless services
in regions 1 and 4 in northern Mexico will allow the Company to cover
an additional 11 million POPs, or 11% of Mexico's total population.
Since February 1997, the Company has been under the management and
operating control of Bell Atlantic which owns, through subsidiaries,
47% of the Company's capital stock.
Note: This press release contains statements about expected future
events and financial results that are forward-looking and subject to
risks and uncertainties. For those statements, we claim the
protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained
in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Discussion of
factors that may affect future results is contained in our filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
####
| 
