The third quarter of 2007 saw few changes to the relative positions of the ten largest wireless carriers, but pending acquisitions soon will continue the industry’s march toward consolidation.
AT&T Mobility had a particularly strong quarter due to a boost from sales of the Apple Inc. iPhone, while Sprint Nextel Corp. continued to struggle and turned in negative net customer additions for the period.
Meanwhile, the national carriers snapped up regional operators in a bid to push further into rural markets. AT&T Mobility agreed to acquire Dobson Communications Corp. (No. 9 on the list) for about $2.8 billion, and T-Mobile USA Inc. is buying out SunCom Wireless Holdings Inc. (No. 10) for $2.4 billion. The Dobson transaction has now closed, while the T-Mobile USA/SunCom deal is pending.
Although Rural Cellular Corp.’s 700,000-plus customers didn’t quite make the top 10 list, Verizon Wireless is working to finalize its acquisition of the carrier.
Leap Wireless International Inc. maintains the No. 8 position based largely on its Q2 numbers; the carrier has not yet reported its full Q3 results aside from a few estimates on its performance. The carrier announced recently that it must restate its financials dating back to 2004.
The list does not include mobile virtual network operators, who utilize carrier networks to provide service.
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By the Numbers: Top Ten U.S. Wireless Service Providers
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| Operator | Subscriber Base | Net additions | Total Churn | Postpaid Churn | ARPU | Data ARPU | Revenues |
| AT&T Mobility | 65.7 million | 2.0 million | 1.70% | 1.30% | $50.82 | n/a | $10.9 billion |
| Verizon Wireless | 63.7 million | 1.6 million | 1.27% | 0.96% | $52.17 | $10.59 | $11.3 billion |
| Sprint Nextel Corp. | 54 million | -60,000 | n/a | 2.30% | 59* | ~$10 | $8.7 billion |
| T-Mobile USA Inc. | 27.7 million | 857,000 | 2.90% | 2.00% | $53 | $8 | $4.89 billion |
| Alltel Corp. | 12 million | 213,000 | 1.90% | 1.31% | $55.96 | $6.36 | $2.3 billion |
| U.S. Cellular | 6.067 million | 52,000 | 1.60% | $52.71 | n/a | $1 billion | |
| MetroPCS Communications Corp. | 3.66 million | 114,300 | 5.20% | n/a | $42.77 | n/a | $557 million |
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Leap Wireless International Inc. (estimates) |
2.7 million** | 36,500 | 5.20% | n/a | $45.13** | n/a | $393 million** |
| Dobson Communications Corp. | 1.5 million | 49,100 | n/a | 2.01% | $52.54 | $7.03 | $392 million |
| SunCom Holdings | 1.14 million | 2,200 | 2.90% | n/a | $57.38 | n/a | $240 million |
| *postpaid only | |||||||
| **Second quarter results; Leap has not yet reported full 3Q results | |||||||
| Source: quarterly reports and company statements | |||||||
