WASHINGTON-Digital subscriber growth surpassed analog subscriber growth in the specialized mobile radio industry last year for the first time in history, according to a study prepared by The Strategis Group and the American Mobile Telecommunications Association.
The SMR industry added 210,000 digital subscribers, the report said, and only 80,000 analog subscribers.
The Strategis Group and AMTA attributed the success of digital services to Nextel Communications Inc.’s business strategy of converting its analog networks to digital technology supplied by Motorola Inc. The Strategis Group said Nextel serves half of all SMR subscribers.
“We have known for some time that bundled dispatch and mobile telephone services broaden the addressable market for SMR operators beyond the pure dispatch customer,” said Steve Virostek, private radio analyst at The Strategis Group. “But until digital networks were constructed, operators did not have the capacity needed to provide these bundled services.”
The study also found monthly revenue per subscriber showed no growth in 1996. In addition, SMR churn rates are the lowest of any mobile communications service, the study said. Average churn was 1.5 percent per month last year, compared with monthly churn rates for paging subscribers of 2.8 percent and cellular churn rates of 2.5 percent.
