14 DAY TRIAL // According to a recently-published Strategy Analytics report, the number of US cellular subscribers will continue to grow through 2009, although the country is facing an economic downturn. The report states that the growth will not reach the same levels as in 2008, but that the revenues in the US cellular service area will nevertheless keep on going up. The growth rate is expected to be of 3.9 percent, much lower than the 7.5 percent registered in 2008.
Nowadays, operators need to take into account the fact that consumers do not have the same financial power as they would usually have. “Rather than just pushing prepaid as the perfect recession-proof tariff, carriers will work to make postpaid plans more attractive to budget-conscious customers who are re-examining their cellular spend,” explains Phil Kendall, director of the Strategy Analytics Wireless Network Strategies service.
ARPUs (average revenue per user) are expected to drop to a minimum during 2009, although flat-rate data plans as well as the increasing traction of smartphones and mobile broadband datacards result in a strong data average revenue per user.
According to Strategy Analytics, the main focus should be put on value and not on a price competition. “All-you-can-eat operators MetroPCS and Leap Wireless should fare well and present a challenge, especially to T-Mobile USA. Strategy Analytics expects that Sprint will continue to struggle,” forecasts Susan Welsh de Grimaldo, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics and author of the report.
“The year 2009 will see heightened competition between AT&T Mobility and the new number one, Verizon Wireless – fresh from its acquisition of Alltel. These two will jockey for technology leadership on Long-Term Evolution (LTE), push wireless connectivity in consumer electronics devices and increasingly represent a larger share of total subscribers and service revenues.”