Metro PCS 2010 Annual Report Download - page 39

29
4G LTE, or other fourth generation technologies, costs to purchase additional spectrum and necessary infrastructure
equipment, costs to implement new or different services, service plans, handsets and related accessories to meet
customer needs and costs to secure the necessary governmental approvals and renewals for our operations. Delays or
failure to purchase additional spectrum or to make these enhancements to our products, services or network, could
limit our ability to meet our customer demands or customer expectations. Further, even if we continually upgrade
and maintain our networks and enhance our products and services, there can be no assurance that our existing
customers will not switch to another wireless provider or that we will be able to attract new customers. If we are
unable to meet our customer demands or customer expectations, including providing customers with reliable and
compatible network devices, or manage our sales, distribution, advertising, customer support, billing and collection,
we may have difficulty attracting and retaining customers, which could increase our churn and operating costs and
decrease our revenue, resulting in an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.
Similarly, if our vendors deliver 4G LTE products and services that do not work as anticipated, fail to meet
customer expectations, or fail to operate properly, we may not receive revenue on our investment in 4G LTE. For
example, if a 4G LTE handset is lacking in certain features that our customers expect, our existing and potential
customers may not purchase the handsets. Further, we presently provide limited subsidies for handsets to our
customers, so the price of the handset may also reduce the demand for the handsets and we will incur an expense
equal to the difference between the price we pay for the handset and the price we receive from the customer. This
could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.
We may not be successful in continuing to grow our customer base.
Our business plan assumes continued growth in our customer base. Our ability to grow our customer base and
achieve the customer penetration levels that we currently believe are possible with our business model in our
markets is subject to a number of risks, including:
• customer demand for our products and services and our inability to meet those customer expectations and
demands;
• our inability or our supplier’s inability to obtain or offer and provide products or services which our current or
prospective customers demand, want, expect or need;
• increased competition from existing competitors or new competitors;
• our inability to differentiate our services from the services offered by our competitors;
• higher than anticipated churn in our markets or lower than anticipated gross adds in our markets;
• our inability to increase our network capacity in areas we currently serve to meet increasing customer
demand;
• our inability to offer competitive data services;
• limitations in our customer service, billing and other systems;
• our inability to manage inventory and adequately forecast our inventory needs, such as handset quantity,
quality and type;
• our inability to provide service in areas demanded by our current and prospective customers;
• our inability to attract and retain indirect agents and dealers for our products and services;
• our inability to increase the relevant coverage areas in our existing markets, to expand our roaming
arrangements to areas that are important to our customers or to allow us to offer services at rates which are
attractive to our current and prospective customers;
• unfavorable United States economic conditions, which may have a disproportionate negative impact on
certain portions of our customer base including an impact on their ability to buy new handsets or pay for our
services;