US Cellular owner TDS says 3Q profit drops by half

CHICAGO - Telephone and Data Systems Inc., owner of sixth-ranked wireless carrier U.S. Cellular Corp., said Wednesday its third-quarter net profit shrank 56 percent from a year ago as fixed-lined customers continued to decrease.

But the results beat Wall Street forecasts and shares rose $1.62, or 6.2 percent, to $27.86 in midday trading.

TDS said its net income fell to $101.2 million, or 87 cents per share, from $231.7 million, or $1.93 per share, a year ago.

Revenue grew 5.5 percent to $1.3 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters predicted, on average, a profit of 50 cents per share and revenue of $1.29 billion.

The company said its operating income rose 13 percent to $152.1 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30, from $134.5 million in the same period a year ago.

Average revenue per user at U.S. Cellular grew 3.5 percent to $54.59, although it lost 18,000 net customers to 6.176 million from the previous quarter.

The number of landline equivalent customers shrank 600 to 773,700 over the quarter.

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