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Content Tagged with t-mobile + sprint
Wireless Results Scorecard
The four major mobile carriers have presented their 2008 second quarter financial results, and it’s really a tough time to be Sprint. We compiled a quick scorecard after T-Mobile USA reported its numbers this morning, so for an at-a-glance view of which added the most new subscribers (Verizon) or which makes the most money off of each subscriber (Sprint), see below.
AT&T reported Q2 earnings on July 23:
- Wireless revenue: $12 billion
- Wireless operating income: $3.1 billion
- Churn (postpaid only): 1.1 percent
- Net adds: 1.3 million
- Total subscribers: 72.9 million
- Data revenue: $2.5 billion
- Average ARPU: $50.60
Verizon reported Q2 earnings on July 28:
- Wireless revenue: $12.1 million billion
- Wireless operating income: N/A
- Blended churn: 1.12 percent, postpaid 0.83 percent
- Net adds: 1.5 million
- Total subscribers: 68.7 million
- Data revenue: $2.6 billion
- Average ARPU: $51.53
Sprint reported Q2 results on August 6:
- Wireless revenue: $7.7 billion
- Wireless operating loss: $142 million
- Churn (postpaid only): “just under” 2 percent
- Net loss: 901,000
- Total subscribers: 51.9 million
- Data revenue: N/A
- Average ARPU: $53.47 (excludes wholesale customers)
T-Mobile reported Q2 earnings today:
- Wireless revenue: $4.85 billion
- Wireless net income: $452 million
- Blended churn: 2.7 percent, postpaid 1.9 percent
- Net adds: 668,000
- Total subscribers: 31.5 million
- Data revenue: N/A
- Average ARPU: $52
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T-Mobile, Sprint Together? Just Say No…Now
Merrill Lynch analysts suggest that because of a strong euro and looming price wars, Deutsche Telekom might make a bid for beleaguered Sprint and add it to its T-Mobile USA unit. In theory it may seems like a wonderful idea. In reality, if this deal happens, then it is going to be worse than a Las Vegas wedding after a night-long binge! The combined company will operate four different kind of networks — iDen, CDMA, WiMAX and GSM. Did these analysts forget that the iDEN-CDMA integration has been one of the major reasons for Sprint-Nextel’s troubles?
Cellular Biz & Its $99 Problem
I’ve been watching the mobile industry commit hara-kari over the past few days. US Cellular is the latest to join this mad dash to the bottom. Their new $99 unlimited calling plans make me wonder if they have actually thought through this move and its long-term implications.
A friend of mine, a veteran of the long-distance wars who’s worked with the phone companies, both the wired and the wireless kind, described the big three mobile carriers — Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile — as dumb, dumber and dumbest.
These moves remind him of the crazy 1990s, when Sprint, MCI and AT&T fought over long-distance minutes by offering lower prices and thus slowly destroying their ability to make money to support their bloated infrastructure. It’s pretty much the same situation here — but the pain is going to be felt much sooner.
Here is why: I am one of the high-end customers of AT&T, locked into a 2-year contract for my iPhone. I’ve been paying $99 a month (plus about $40 for data and messaging) for 2,000 rollover minutes, free weekends and evenings.
It’s never been tough for me to go over the 2,000 minute-limit, since my mobile is my primary phone. Result: I end up paying between $25 to $150 in overages, depending on the amount time I spend on the phone. I am the perfect customer, the kind that makes up for the ones at the bottom of the pile who either don’t spend enough money or didn’t care to get big buckets of minutes.
But now I am going to get an unlimited plan. And that is the big question: Why would you as a company limit the amount of money spent by some of your best (and I mean high-spending) customers? I suspect most of the people who are going to sign up for these $99-a-month plans are going to be folks like me — existing customers who are looking to bring their wireless bills under control.
These are particularly attractive options for small biz, startups and web workers. Now your communication costs are pre-determined, which is a good way to budget. I am asking the GigaTEAM to switch to a $99 plan (on offer from whatever mobile operator they use) and also putting the PBX-land line option on hold…forever.
