Grading the top 7 U.S. carriers in the first quarter of 2009

The following is a countdown of the top seven U.S. wireless carriers by subscriber base, according to research firm Strategy Analytics, and includes major metrics of each carrier.
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This list does not include resellers or MVNOs, such as Virgin Mobile USA. Smaller carriers, such as Cincinnati Bell, also are not included. IPCS reports its results Monday, but ended 2008 with 691,000 customers and therefore probably would not rank among the top seven.

Further, this list does not include Sprint Nextel's affiliates among Sprint's subscriber count, though it does include the carrier's "wholesale" subscribers, such as those who use the Amazon Kindle (which runs on Sprint's network).

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All figures courtesy Strategy Analytics.