Subscribers and revenue were up for Leap Wireless International, but its losses continued to mount this quarter over the year-ago quarter. The operator lost $48.8 million compared with $43.3 million in 2007.

On the up-side, Leap added about 156,000 net new customers in Q3 2008. The majority of those customer additions – 92,000 – came for voice services in new markets the company launched this year. The company signed up another 24,000 customers in existing markets and about 40,000 associated with mobile broadband service.

Service revenues increased 23% to $435 million over the year-ago quarter. However, average revenue per user (ARPU) declined 3.5% from a year ago, settling at $42.95. Leap also reported churn for the quarter at 4.2%, down from the year-ago 5.2%.

Doug Hutcheson, Leap’s president and CEO cited deeper penetration in existing markets and mobile broadband service as helping with the performance gains.

“Our success in operating and further expanding our business, together with our strong liquidity position and commitment to operate our business in a thoughtful and disciplined manner, give us confidence that we can continue to move successfully through uncertain economic times,” he said.