The companies listed below represent the 10 largest national and regional licensed wireless carriers based on subscriber numbers at the end of 2007.
AT&T Mobility maintained its position as the industry’s No. 1 carrier, ending last year with just over 70 million subscribers. The carrier’s growth included the acquisition of Dobson Communications Corp., which added 1.7 million customers to its base.
Verizon Wireless remained a strong No. 2, ending the year with nearly 66 million customers, but just edging out AT&T Mobility in total revenues for the year at $43.9 billion. Verizon Wireless recently closed on its acquisition of Rural Cellular Corp., which is No. 10 on this year’s list.
Despite a troubled year, Sprint Nextel Corp. remained at No. 3 well ahead of No. 4 carrier T-Mobile USA Inc., but falling further behind its larger rivals. T-Mobile USA’s results do not include its recent acquisition of SunCom Wireless Holdings Inc., which closed earlier this year. SunCom used the acquisition to not post its fourth quarter or full-year 2007 results, but was set to make it in the top 10. The carrier counted more than 1 million customers in the third quarter of 2007.
The RCR Wireless News “By-the-Numbers” list is the property of RCR Wireless News and should not be construed as an endorsement of the companies listed below. Ranking information from this feature cannot be reprinted without written permission.
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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 | ARPU | Data ARPU |
| AT&T Mobility | 70.1 million | 7.3 million | 1.7% | $50.26 | $9 |
| Verizon Wireless | 65.7 million | 6.7 million | 1.2% | $51.49* | $11.06* |
| Sprint Nextel Corp. | 53.8 million | 700,000 | 2.2%** | $59** | $11** |
| T-Mobile USA Inc. | 28.7 million | 3.7 million | 2.8% | $52 | $8.20* |
| Alltel Corp. | 12.3 million | 961,255 | 1.8% | $54.30 | $5.87 |
| U.S. Cellular | 6.1 million | 301,000 | 1.4%** | $51.13 | n/a |
| MetroPCS Communications Corp. | 4 million | 1 million | 4.7% | $43.03 | n/a |
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Leap Wireless International Inc. |
2.9 million | 633,693 | 4.3% | $44.92 | n/a |
| Centennial*** | 1.1 million | 52,100 | 2.4% | $64 | $5.67 |
| Rural Cellular | 790,705 | 85,047 | 1.8%** | $53 | $4 |
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*Q4 results |
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