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US network Cingular has tripled its Q4 net income compared to the previous year, and added 2.4 million new subscribers - smashing the record set in 2005 by Verizon (+2m).

However, a relatively large proportion of these new additions are prepay customers, who have lower ARPU (spend) and can switch networks easily.

It will be interesting to see how the market reacts to Cingular’s rebranding as AT&T, traditionally known as more of a landline provider. These results are the last Cingular will ever post before succumbing to the AT&T brand.

Much of the subscriber growth has come at the expense of Sprint, which has struggled in recent times. The increase takes Cingular’s (AT&T’s) customer base to 61 million.