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AT&T Wireless pays more for customers

AT&T Wireless reported EBITDA of $3.6 billion that was $97 million lower than our estimate because it cost more to acquire a customer than we expected. We believe the higher customer acquisition costs and lower gross margins are red flags about the wireless industry in the United States. ARPU would be a third red flag…

Cinema Advertising: Stop Worrying About Make-Goods

We believe NCMI investors have become overly concerned with quarterly box office performance and the risk of advertising “make-goods,” if attendance in a given quarter is down year-over-year. Make-goods are simply a fact of life for the cinema advertising industry; most quarters have some level of make-goods, particularly as advertising is sold against three separate…

China Mobile subscriber growth strong in June

China Mobile reported June net subscriber additions of 5.5 million (+1% q/q and +24% y/y) that topped our estimate by ~260,000.  Prepaid net additions of 5.2 million were responsible for the upside to our estimate, while postpaid net additions were in-line with our estimate.  Prepaid accounted for 93% of net additions in the month of…

Vivo reports solid Q2 results

Vivo reported solid second quarter results.  Net additions were nearly 1 million higher than our estimate of 270,000 based on stronger than expected gross additions and lower than expected churn.  ARPU and subscriber acquisition costs (SAC) per subscriber were in-line with our estimate.  EBITDA was substantially lower than our estimate primarily due to the subscriber…

VIV: Could be strong Q2 tomorrow

Just a reminder that Vivo reports tomorrow. Industry numbers have been reported by Anatel already but we think that the strong subscriber growth could be a positive surprise tomorrow. Our net addition estimate was established at the start of the quarter at 273,000 but the monthly upside has been significant and the company could top…