Jun. 2--Richardson-based MetroPCS Communications Inc. has been on an undeniable tear recently, targeting cellphone users who are keeping a tighter rein on their pocketbooks.

The question is whether the young wireless provider can hold on to those thrifty customers as the economy improves and a penny-pincher's fancy turns to thoughts of iPhones.

The 7-year-old company, which offers flat-rate, no-contract phone service, said in its first-quarter earnings report in early May that sales rose 20 percent to $795 million and it added 684,000 net new customers in the quarter.

MetroPCS now has more than 6 million customers, recruiting 1.6 million net new subscribers in the last 12 months.

Research firm Atlantic-ACM estimates that MetroPCS' share of the prepaid market in the U.S., in terms of subscribers, rose from 8.5 percent in the second quarter of 2007 to 9.5 percent in the second quarter of 2008, the most recent data available.

Roger Linquist, founder, president, chairman and chief executive of MetroPCS, said much of the company's recent success can be traced to the emergence of what he calls the "frugality generation."

"There's a much greater pursuit of value that we sense for subscribers," he said in an interview at the company's low-key headquarters.

"I think everyone is looking at their bills much more intensely."

And while there are intermittent signs that the economy is starting to improve, or at least bottom out, Linquist predicts consumers aren't ready to throw their budgets to the wind.

"We don't think this is necessarily something that will go away in six months or 12 months if and when this economy does turn around, which probably looks more like 2010 or beyond," he said.

And even when the economy does start growing again, many wireless customers will still be looking for bargains, one analyst said.

Fedor Smith, president of Atlantic-ACM, noted that Boost Mobile, a competitor to MetroPCS, offers unlimited voice and text messaging for $50 a month.

But an unlimited plan on a traditional contract from Sprint, Boost's parent company, costs $100 per month.

"Even in a strong economy, for a large percentage of consumers, that's a huge spending consideration," Smith said.

"So I think that now that the prepaid offerings don't require you to have credit, offer unlimited calling, and have data and other services that weren't previously available on a prepaid platform, they will retain those customers."

But some customers will be willing and able to afford more cutting-edge technology when the economy turns, and MetroPCS says it will be ready to cater to them.