New sales records of all kinds were set during last year’s fourth quarter, reinforcing the importance of the last three months of the year for the wireless industry.
“In the cellular market, the battle for market share is won and lost in the fourth quarter, with Christmas sales being a critical benchmark for network operators and handset vendors alike,” said a Strategy Analytics report, which noted fourth-quarter sales continue to account for more than 40 percent of annual unit volume.
“Strategy Analytics expects U.S. cellular and (personal communications services) operators to report dramatic fourth-quarter results over the next few weeks,” said the report. “Overall we can anticipate Q4 net addition gains of 15 percent to 20 percent or higher for the leading U.S. wireless operators.”
Strategy Analytics said holiday promotions centered around three main themes last year: two-for-one phone promotions, free evening and weekend airtime, and bonus minutes.
During the fourth quarter:
Sprint PCS was expected to add more than 1 million subscribers compared with the 836,000 subscribers it added during the same quarter in 1998. The company plans to release its fourth-quarter earnings report Feb. 1.
BellSouth Cellular Corp. set a new record for number of wireless activations in a single day on Dec. 23. The company also said it experienced a 37-percent increase in completed activations during the quarter compared with the same period during 1998.
Bell Atlantic Mobile added 363,000 net subscribers during the quarter. During the same quarter of 1998, the company added 302,000 cellular customers and 196,000 PCS subscribers via its interest in PrimeCo Personal Communications L.P.
Vodafone AirTouch plc added 640,000 customers in the United States during the quarter, which the company said is the best quarterly growth in its history. During the fourth quarter of 1998, AirTouch added 454,000 cellular customers and 93,000 proportionate PCS subscribers in the United States.
Worldwide, Vodafone AirTouch added more than 3.98 million customers during the fourth quarter of 1999.
Prepaid provider Shared Technologies Cellular Inc. activated about 7,000 new prepaid cellular phones the day after Christmas, a one-day record for the company.
“In my opinion, the fourth quarter of 1999 probably had an 8-percent annual increase of net additions compared with fourth-quarter 1998,” said David Freedman, analyst with Bear, Stearns & Co. in New York. “The fourth quarter is absolutely as important as it used to be. The growth is an indication that we are still in a period of acceleration of incremental penetration in the United States.”
The fourth quarter proved to be an important one for carriers outside the United States as well.
France Telecom’s Itineris Global System for Mobile communications service signed up 1.2 million new customers in December alone, setting a world record for gross sales. The company also set a single-day record Dec. 24 with 136,000 Itineris sales.
Canadian carrier Microcell Telecommunications Inc.’s Microcell Solutions unit added more than 125,000 net additional subscribers in the fourth quarter of 1999, up 23 percent from the previous year. Microcell Solutions markets PCS service under the Fido brand name.
