XM Satellite Radio has signed up more than 360,000 subscribers, extending its market leadership in digital satellite radio. "XM had an outstanding fourth quarter, adding 145,000 subscribers, a 72 percent increase in subscribers over our cumulative total at the end of the third quarter and more than five times as many subscribers as we signed-up in the fourth quarter of 2001," said XM president and CEO Hugh Panero. "XM's accelerating subscriber growth has been fueled by 'the second launch of XM' in new vehicles from General Motors and other automakers, and by our 'third launch' into the home and portable markets with our next-generation SKYFi receivers, including XM's first portable radio."
"XM expects a very strong 2003, with new subscribers approximately triple those obtained in 2002", Panero continued. "By year-end 2003, XM will have crossed the one million subscriber mark and be firmly established as a mass- market product."
XM ended 2002 with more than 347,000 subscribers. The Company had thousands of additional radios sold at retail but not yet activated by year- end — demonstrating the attractiveness of XM as a Holiday gift. The first XM "boomboxes" reached retail shelves very late in the quarter and sold out almost immediately, indicating a significant near-term market for this breakthrough product — the first XM receiver requiring no installation and able to be utilized in the home or "on the go" without any adapter devices.
