(Source: Business Wire)

iPCS, Inc. (NASDAQ: IPCS), a PCS Affiliate of Sprint Nextel Corporation,
today reported financial and operational results for its third quarter
ended September 30, 2009.
Third Quarter Highlights:
Total revenues of $141.4 million compared to $132.1 million in the
prior year quarter ended September 30, 2008.
Net Income of $2.7 million, or $0.16 per diluted share, compared to a
net loss of $7.5 million, or $0.44 per diluted share, in the prior
year quarter.
Adjusted EBITDA of $23.6 million compared to $14.7 million in the
prior year quarter. Included in Adjusted EBITDA for the current year
third quarter is approximately $3.0 million in Sprint-related
litigation expenses. Included in Adjusted EBITDA for the prior year
quarter is approximately $5.3 million in Sprint-related litigation
expenses.
Capital expenditures of $10.9 million compared to $11.4 million for
the prior year quarter.
Subscriber activity for the quarter as follows:
Gross additions of approximately 68,300 compared to 72,200 for the
prior year quarter.
Net additions of approximately 9,900 compared to 20,400 for the
prior year quarter.
Monthly churn, net of 30 day deactivations, of approximately 2.4%,
compared to 2.3% for the prior year quarter.
Ending subscribers of approximately 720,100 compared to 674,400
for the prior year quarter.
Merger Agreement with Sprint Nextel
As previously disclosed, on October 18, 2009, the Company, Sprint Nextel
Corporation, a Kansas corporation ("Sprint Nextel"), and Ireland
Acquisition Corporation, a Delaware corporation (the "Purchaser") and a
wholly owned subsidiary of Sprint Nextel, entered into an Agreement and
Plan of Merger (the "Merger Agreement") pursuant to which, among other
things, on October 28, 2009 the Purchaser commenced a tender offer (the
"Offer") to acquire all of the Company's outstanding shares of common
stock, par value $0.01 per share (the "Shares"), at a price of $24.00
per share in cash, subject to required withholding taxes and without
interest. The Merger Agreement also provides that following the
consummation of the Offer, the Purchaser will be merged with and into
the Company (the "Merger") with the Company surviving the merger as a
wholly owned subsidiary of Parent.
In light of the proposed transaction with Sprint Nextel described above,
the Company is withdrawing its full year 2009 operating and financial
guidance and will not be hosting an earnings conference call for its
third quarter results.
NOTICE TO INVESTORS
The tender offer described in this release commenced on October 28,
2009. The description contained in this release is not an offer to buy
or the solicitation of an offer to sell securities. Upon the
commencement of the tender offer, Sprint Nextel filed a tender offer
statement on Schedule TO with the Securities and Exchange Commission
(the "SEC"), and iPCS filed a solicitation/recommendation statement on
Schedule 14D-9 with respect to the planned tender offer. The tender
offer statement (including an offer to purchase, a related letter of
transmittal and other tender offer documents) and the
solicitation/recommendation statement contain important information that
should be read carefully before making any decision to tender securities
in the tender offer. Those materials are being made available to iPCS's
stockholders. In addition, all of those materials (and all other tender
offer documents filed with the SEC) are available at no charge on the
SEC's website at www.sec.gov.
About iPCS, Inc.
iPCS, through its operating subsidiaries, is a Sprint PCS Affiliate of
Sprint Nextel Corporation with the exclusive right to sell wireless
mobility communications network products and services under the Sprint
brand in 81 markets including markets in Illinois, Michigan,
Pennsylvania, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio and Tennessee. The territory includes
key markets such as Grand Rapids (MI), Fort Wayne (IN), the Tri-Cities
region of Tennessee (Johnson City, Kingsport and Bristol), Scranton
(PA), Saginaw-Bay City (MI), Central Illinois (Peoria, Springfield,
Decatur, and Champaign) and the Quad Cities region of Illinois and Iowa
(Bettendorf and Davenport, IA, and Moline and Rock Island, IL). As of
September 30, 2009, iPCS's licensed territory had a total population of
approximately 15.1 million residents, of which its wireless network
covered approximately 12.7 million residents, and iPCS had approximately
720,100 subscribers. iPCS is headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois. For
more information, please visit iPCS's website at www.ipcswirelessinc.com.
Definitions of Operating and Non-GAAP Financial Measures
iPCS provides readers financial measures calculated using generally
accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") and other measures which are
derived from GAAP ("Non-GAAP Financial Measures"). These financial
measures reflect conventions or standard measures of liquidity,
profitability or performance commonly used by the investment community
in the telecommunications industry for comparability purposes. These
financial measures are a supplement to GAAP financial measures and
should not be considered as an alternative to, or more meaningful than,
GAAP financial measures.
The Non-GAAP Financial Measures and non-financial terms used in this
release include the following:
Gross subscriber additions for the period represent the number of new
activations during the period (excluding transfers into our territory).
Net subscriber additions for the period represented is calculated as
the gross subscriber additions in the period less the number of
subscribers deactivated plus the net subscribers transferred in or out
of our markets during the period.
Churn is a measure of the average monthly rate at which subscribers
based in our territory deactivate service on a voluntary or
involuntary (credit-related) basis. We calculate average monthly churn
based on the number of subscribers deactivated during the period (net
of those who deactivate within 30 days of activation and excluding
transfers out of our territory) as a percentage of our average monthly
subscriber based during the period divided by the number of months
during the period.
Adjusted EBITDA represents earnings before interest, taxes,
depreciation and amortization as adjusted for gain or loss on the
disposal of property and equipment, stock-based compensation expense
and debt extinguishment costs. Adjusted EBITDA is a measure used by
the investment community in the telecommunications industry for
comparability and is not intended to represent the results of our
operations in accordance with GAAP.
ARPU, or average revenue per user, is a measure of the average monthly
service revenue earned from subscribers based in our territory. This
measure is calculated by dividing subscriber revenue or subscriber
revenue plus roaming revenue in our consolidated statement of
operations by the number of our average monthly subscribers during the
period divided by the number of months in the period.
CCPU, or cash cost per user, is a measure of the monthly costs to
operate our business on a per subscriber basis consisting of costs of
service and operations, and general and administrative expenses in our
consolidated statement of operations, plus handset subsidies on
equipment sold to existing subscribers, less stock-based compensation
expense. These costs are divided by the number of our average monthly
subscribers during the period divided by the number of months in the
period.
CPGA, or cost per gross addition, is a measure of the average cost we
incur to add a new subscriber in our territory. These costs include
handset subsidies on new subscriber activations, commissions, rebates
and other selling and marketing costs.