WASHINGTON – AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless are expected to continue trailing T-Mobile US in customer growth metrics for the first quarter of 2015, according to Bloomberg.
AT&T Mobility, the second-largest cellular carrier in the U.S., said it expects to post 400,000 postpaid net additions, while Verizon Wireless, the nation’s largest carrier, posted a disappointing 377,000 direct net customer additions for the first quarter.
Analysts expect T-Mobile US to outperform both larger rivals by adding 930,000 net customers for the quarter. That would be the fifth consecutive quarter that T-Mobile US has led the industry in new subscriber growth, according to reports. Despite leading in both new subscribers and phone sales, T-Mobile US still trails its two main rivals in tablet sales.
The competition among the three telecom firms has also come at the expense of Sprint, currently the nation’s No. 3 carrier. Sprint is expected to post a loss of 123,000 “phone” customers during the quarter, though analysts expect those losses to be offset by strong tablet activations.
T-Mobile US credits its success to its aggressive ad campaign, which calls on users to ditch its rivals and switch to T-Mobile US.
“The U.S. wireless market is saturated. Only two things will drive carrier growth: stealing customers from other carriers or adding connected devices like tablets and cars,” Maribel Lopez, an analyst with Lopez Research, told Bloomberg.
“The industry is maturing. Everyone already owns at least one phone and the number of customers leaving No. 3 Sprint has tapered off,” said Kevin Smithen, an analyst at Macquarie Securities. “Verizon and AT&T can no longer offset subscriber losses to T-Mobile with gains from Sprint.”
At the end of last year Verizon Wireless had 102 million direct postpaid subscribers; AT&T Mobility followed with 75.9 million postpaid customers; followed by Sprint with 29.9 million postpaid users and T-Mobile US with 27.2 million postpaid subscribers.
