Grading the top 10 U.S. carriers in the second quarter of 2011

The following charts the top U.S. wireless carriers in the second quarter of 2011 by subscriber base, according to research firm Strategy Analytics, and includes major metrics--such as churn, ARPU and revenue--of each carrier. The subscriber figures include both retail and wholesale customers.
This list does not include resellers or MVNOs such as TracFone.
And don't forget to see how these figures stack up against second quarter 2009, second quarter 2010 and first quarter 2011 figures.
(And you also might want to check out our wrap-up of the wireless industry in the second quarter and a list of the top handset makers in the second quarter.)
As the second-quarter reporting season comes to a close, it's time to start parsing the information to see which carriers slipped and which managed to get ahead. Click here for some of the big themes from the quarter.



Top U.S. Wireless Carrier Metrics Q2 2011 (ranking by subscribers, retail + wholesale)


 
Carrier
Subscribers (millions)
Net Adds (millions)
Churn (Avg Monthly)
Service Revenue      (millions)
Data % of Service Revenue
ARPU


1
Verizon Wireless
106.292
2.208
1.22%
$14,707
39.5%
 $52.49


2
AT&T Mobility
98.615
1.095
1.43%
$14,157
38.2%
 $48.18


3
Sprint Nextel*
51.843
1.082
2.51%
$6,708
n/a
 $48.18


4
T-Mobile USA
33.585
-0.050
3.30%
$4,620
29.7%
 $45.82


5
MetroPCS
9.080
0.199
3.94%
$1,113
n/a
 $40.49


6
Clearwire**
7.648
1.543
1.78%
$293
100.0%
 $14.21


7
U.S. Cellular
5.968
-0.065
1.79%
$1,002
n/a
 $55.69


8
Leap Wireless
5.746
-0.103
4.20%
$704
n/a
    $40.15


9
Cellular South***
n/a
 
 
 
 
 


10
ATN
0.639
-0.035
3.73%
$147
n/a
 $47.90


11
Cincinnati Bell
0.487
-0.017
3.51%
$65
30.6%
 $43.35


12
Ntelos
0.425
-0.005
3.26%
$98
30.9%
 $49.96


Subscribers include retail and wholesale connections of both traditional and new connected device categories (e.g. M2M) *Sprint Nextel subscribers and net adds excluding estimated number of affiliate subscribers, but including wholesale; service revenues excluding wholesale and affiliate **Clearwire subscribers and net adds include wholesale subs outside current 4G network coverage area, but from whom Clearwire receives nominal revenue, in addition to approx 40,000 subscribers in international markets. Revenues/ARPUs are pro-forma results, which include some Q1 wholesale revenue which will be recorded in Q2. ***Cellular South is a private company and does not reveal its metrics, estimated to have c. 900,000 subscribers Source: Strategy Analytics, based on carrier reports



 
 

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