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U.S. Cellular, other small U.S. operators continue to lag behind
When Verizon Wireless' $28.1 billion acquisition of Alltel closes, there will be no U.S. wireless networks with between 7 million and 30 million customers, and the gap between small operators and large behemoths will grow wider, according to a report by the Mobile World Briefing.
There are currently seven networks with fewer than 7 million subscribers but greater than 250,000, although if AT&T's plan to buy Centennial gains regulatory approval, there will only be six. They include Qwest, Ntelos, U.S. Cellular, Leap, MetroPCS and Cincinnati Bell. During the third quarter, four out of the seven experienced net declines in subscriber growth, with Qwest experiencing the largest drop. Qwest lost 45,000 subscribers in the quarter, taking its base down to 770,000, its lowest base since the third quarter of 2005.
Leap and MetroPCS remain the fastest-growing small operators, with annual growth rates of 27.6 percent and 32.3 percent respectively. However, the annual growth rate for the seven combined was 13.1 percent, compared to 15.9 percent for T-Mobile USA, 14.0 percent for AT&T Mobility, 11.2 percent for Verizon and -6.3 percent for Sprint Nextel.
When the Verizon-Alltel deal closes it will create company with more than 83 million subscribers. AT&T is the second largest, with nearly 75 million subscribers.
For more:
- see this article
Related Articles:
FCC approves Verizon's acquisition of Alltel
AT&T buys Centennial for $944M
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Comments
Posted by Original Amazed | November 19, 2008 - 6:09pm
What happened to Virgin Mobile USA? From the way the article was written, one might think that the list of carriers between 250K and 7MM only included facility based carriers however, it then includes Qwest as one of the 7 (or 6, based in acquisition)of the carriers.
Qwest *DOES NOT HAVE* their own facility based service. They are simply re-selling Verizon. If we are to have a more accurate picture of the competitors, then either Qwest needs to be eliminated or, Virgin Mobile USA (as well as other MVNO's) need to be added.
Posted by Anonymous | November 19, 2008 - 6:57pm
Qwest does not provide cell sevice. They resell Verizon, and prior to that they reselled Sprint.
Posted by Anonymous | November 20, 2008 - 10:16am
Qwest is now reselling VZW. Their previous arrangement with Sprint was as a MVNO, not just a simple reseller.
