| Data Revenue and Gross Subscribers in the United States Keep the Wireless Market Moving in 4Q09 |
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13/03/2010 11:36 (701 Day 05:23 minutes ago) | |||||
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The FINANCIAL -- FRAMINGHAM. According to the latest U.S. Mobile Data Services QView from International Data Corporation (IDC), the top wireless carriers in the United States added just under 4.2 million retail net subscribers during the fourth quarter of 2009 (4Q09).
Out of these retail net subscribers, 65% were prepaid users. More than 22 million gross retail subscribers were added for the top wireless carriers during the quarter. The total market for the quarter closed at just under 285 million retail wireless subscribers in the United States. Data revenue closed at over $11.8 billion dollars for the quarter and now accounts for 27% of service revenue.
"The prepaid market in the U.S. will remain very competitive. You have five carriers that are competing for every subscriber in that arena," according to Richard Murphy, research analyst, Wireless and Mobile Communications.
Vendor Highlights
In terms of retail net additions, Verizon Wireless closed the quarter at over 1.2 million net additions, while AT&T finished with 852,000. On the prepaid side, TracFone led the way with over 1.2 million net additions.
Market Outlook
IDC expects data revenue will continue to drive the wireless business. Expectations are that data revenue will exceed $50 billion in 2010.
"With the larger carriers trying to get more consumers to spend more of their wireless dollars on data, look for data revenue to continue to grow in the future," added Murphy. "Carriers are attempting to get as many of their customers as possible to use smartphones. And since most smartphones have data requirements, data revenue will increase."
The IDC report, 4Q09 Wireless Gross Subscriber Additions: TracFone Continues to Lead the Way for Prepaid (Doc #222310), tracks gross wireless subscribers on a quarterly cycle with a breakdown by percentage of the prepaid/postpaid markets. In addition, the IDC report, U.S. Mobile Data Services Qview, 4Q09 (forthcoming ), provides the U.S. market and vendor share results for the top wireless carriers in the United States in over 20 top-line categories. This report has a heavy focus on wireless data revenue.
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