Canadian athletes may not have matched the total number of medals hauled from Athens as its southern neighbor, but the Great White North did supply the top carrier during the second quarter of this year as Telus Mobility led 21 of its North American competitors in N. Moore Capital Ltd.’s ranking of wireless carriers based on a handful of operating metrics.
Those metrics include subscriber growth as measured by penetration gain, average revenue per user, churn, pre-interest expense free-cash-flow per subscriber and cost of acquisition. North American carriers are ranked best to worst in each category with the lowest combined score garnering the top spot.
Following first-quarter results where it shared the top spot with Verizon Wireless, Telus Mobility garnered the top spot all to itself for the second quarter, posting a segment low score of 29 points just squeaking ahead of Verizon Wireless’ 30 total points. Telus Mobility stepped up to the top position without a winning result in any one category, but pulled down top-five placings in subscriber growth, COA, churn and piFCF per subscriber and was only hurt by a 16th-place finish in ARPU.
While it missed out on the top spot by a single point, Verizon Wireless used its more than 1.5 million net customer additions during the second quarter to post an industry-leading result in subscriber growth that was backed by top 10 finishes in COA, churn and piFCF per subscriber. Verizon Wireless’ only below-average ranking was in ARPU, where the carrier managed a 12th-place finish.
Despite just missing out on a sixth consecutive quarter at the head of the rankings, N. Moore Capital President Jeffrey Hines commended Verizon Wireless for again posting top marks.
“Hats off to Verizon Wireless who had ranked as the No. 1 operator for five consecutive quarters,” Hines noted. “Nonetheless it was another outstanding quarter for the boys from New Jersey.”
Nextel Communications Inc. used top placings in both ARPU and piFCF per subscriber along with top 10 finishes in subscriber growth and churn to claim the third spot in the second-quarter rankings with 39 total points. The only blemish on the carrier’s second-quarter status was a last-place finish in COA as the $567 Nextel spent during the quarter to add each customer was nearly $200 above the industry average.
Rounding out the top five were regional operator Alltel Corp. and Canadian carrier Bell Mobility, both of which managed a total score of 44 points.
Alltel, which has consistently moved up the rankings in the past several quarters, managed to earn three top 10 placings in subscriber growth, churn and piFCF per subscriber. Alltel also took honors as the only regional operator in the ranking’s top five.
Bell Mobility earned the same number of points with a first-place finish in customer churn backed by top 10 placings in subscriber growth, COA and piFCF per subscriber. Bell Mobility’s only below-average ranking was its 20th-place finish in ARPU.
Fellow Canadian operator Microcell Telecommunications Inc. found itself on the other end of the scale during the second quarter, finishing a distant last with 86 points due to 22nd-place rankings in ARPU and piFCF per subscriber, a 20th-place finish in churn and 19th-place finish in subscriber growth. The only bright side for Microcell was its third place in COA and potential positive side effects if Telus Mobility’s pending $780 million unsolicited offer for its smaller rival is accepted.
