Wireless carrier MetroPCS Communications, Inc., the provider of unlimited wireless communications service for affordable prices, announced recently the subscriber information for the fourth quarter of the last year. During the three months ended December 31, 2009, the company registered gross additions of 1.3 million subscribers, marking an increase of 2 percent when compared to the same time frame the year before.

At the same time, the carrier also announced that the churn rate during the quarter was 5.3 percent, higher than the 5.1 percent it registered in Q4 2008. According to the company, the incremental gross additions of approximately 1.3 million it registered in the first nine months of the last year was one of the main causes for the increase in churn rate.

However, the Dallas-based MetroPCS Communications, Inc. managed to end the fourth quarter of the last year with a number of more than 6.6 million subscribers, a number that also includes a net addition of 317 thousand subscribers registered in the three months period. Over all, the year 2009 brought 1.3 million new subscribers to the company's airwaves.

The wireless carrier, as many of you might already know, provides its users with unlimited wireless communications service for a flat-rate, without asking them to commit to a service agreement. The company can offer its services to a number of 143 million people in a series of large metropolitan areas in the United States, based on its current coverage.

When it comes to the exact numbers, MetroPCS notes that it ended the fourth quarter of 2009 with 6,639,524 subscribers, and registered 317,255 net additions in the time frame. During the entire year 2009, the wireless carrier managed to add 1,272,691 net subscribers, which shows a decline in net additions when compared to the previous year (1,404,047 net additions for the 12 month period ended December 31, 2008). “The subscriber results for the fourth quarter of 2009 may not be reflective of subscriber results for any subsequent period,” the carrier mentions.