AT&T disappointed analysts with their 1Q CY08 results in the wireless
division. "Overall, I think it was largely in line, but not a great
quarter. And wireless net adds were less than expected," stated
Christopher King (
http://tinyurl.com/3ly6qn)
What's sad for AT&T is that even with the iPhone, they added only about
half as many new retail contract customers in the last quarter as
Verizon, even though according to one report, 40% of iPhone users on
AT&T are new subscribers.
For Q1 CY08:
Verizon added 1.5 million customers, 1.3 million of them postpaid retail
contract customers. ARPU was $51.40.
AT&T added 1.3 million customers, 705000, of the postpaid retail
contract customers. So nearly half of their net additions were
low-profit prepaid and MVNO customers. ARPU was $50.18.
Verizon continues to lead as the largest U.S. carrier for customers
actually signed up with carrier and not just using their network through
an MVNO, as well as continuing to expand their huge lead in retail,
postpaid customers.
Is it any wonder that Apple first approached Verizon with the iPhone?
Why hasn't the iPhone solved AT&T's lagging new retail sign-ups?
OTOH, AT&T beat Verizon in wireless revenue, $11.8 billion to $11.7
billion, and much of that is attributable to the higher ARPU from iPhones.
AT&T is catching up with Verizon on data ARPU, with an increase of 57.3%
in data ARPU versus an increase of only 48.9% for Verizon (though since
AT&T was starting from a lower base number it's easier to get a larger
percentage increase.
Verizon's data ARPU was $10.79 for Q1 CY08, while was AT&T’s around $9.
The 3G iPhone should help AT&T increase data ARPU beginning in the third
quarter.