Grading the top 10 U.S. carriers in the third quarter of 2009
The following charts the top 10 U.S. wireless carriers in the third quarter of 2009 by subscriber base, according to research firm Strategy Analytics, and includes major metrics--such as churn, ARPU and revenue--of each carrier.
This list does not include resellers or MVNOs, such as Virgin Mobile USA or TracFone Wireless.
And don't forget to see how these figures stack up against first quarter 2009 figures and second quarter 2009 figures.
| Rank (# of subscribers) | Carrier | Subscribers (millions) | Net Adds (millions) | Churn (Avg Monthly) | Service Revenue (US$ millions) | Data % of Service Revenue | ARPU |
| 1 | Verizon Wireless | 89.013 | 1.238 | 1.49% | $13,525 | 30.5% | $51.04 |
| 2 | AT&T | 81.596 | 2.026 | 1.43% | $12,399 | 29.4% | $51.21 |
| 3 | Sprint Nextel* | 47.318 | -0.565 | 2.78% | $6,261 | 30.7% | $52.95 |
| 4 | T-Mobile USA | 33.420 | -0.077 | 3.40% | $4,733 | 21.1% | $47.15 |
| 5 | MetroPCS | 6.322 | 0.066 | 5.80% | $812 | $41.08 | |
| 6 | US Cellular | 6.131 | -0.024 | 2.22% | $985 | 17.7% | $53.49 |
| 7 | Leap Wireless | 4.655 | 0.115 | 5.4% | $541 | $39.60 | |
| 8 | iPCS | 0.720 | 0.010 | 2.4% | $136 | 34.0% | $50.45 |
| 9 | Cincinnati Bell | 0.536 | -0.008 | 2.3% | $72 | 22.8% | $43.46 |
| 10 | Ntelos | 0.438 | -0.004 | 3.6% | $98 | 17.5% | $53.22 |
| *Sprint Nextel subscribers and net adds excluding estimated number of affiliate subscribers (including iPCS), but including wholesale; service revenues excluding wholesale and affiliate | |||||||
| Source: Strategy Analytics, based on carrier reports | |||||||
