Alltel continued its steady growth clip in the third quarter, lifting its earnings to 11% but seeing only moderate subscriber growth of 101,000 net customers.

Alltel recorded Q3 revenues of $2 billion, up 12% from the same quarter a year ago. Its profits were $402 million, up from $361 million year over year. The rural carrier, however, added only 101,000 new subscribers, a respectable number for a Tier II operator, but a small amount considering Alltel is grown into regional giant with 11 million subscribers. In comparison, U.S. Cellular, a carrier half its size, said it expected to add 330,000 to 360,000 subscribers in the third quarter.

Alltel is feeling the effects of competition from other providers in its primarily rural markets. Its churn for the quarter came in at 2.18%, which while an improvement over previous quarters, resulted in 728,000 customer losses in the quarter. Alltel’s average revenue per user remained among the industry highest, however, falling 1% year-over-year to $53.76 per month.

Shortly after the end of the quarter, Alltel completed its acquisition of Midwest Wireless, adding an additional 450,000 subscribers to its rolls.

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