How Did U.S. Wireless Carriers Fare In Terms Of Postpaid Adds During Q1?

The four major U.S. wireless carriers had a relatively mixed first quarter in terms of postpaid subscriber additions. While Verizon and AT&T saw their overall postpaid subscriber bases rise on account of tablet net additions, only the smaller two players – Sprint and T-Mobile – were able to gain lucrative postpaid phone subscribers. Below we provide an overview of the quarter for the U.S. postpaid wireless market.

• T-Mobile led the industry in terms of postpaid phone adds, driven by its “un-carrier” branding and value-added offers such as the “Binge On” unlimited streaming service. Sprint posted its third straight quarter of positive phone net additions, driven by its 50% off promotions and improving network performance. While Verizon saw its phone base shrink marginally, AT&T posted significant postpaid phone losses, amid attrition of its low-value feature phone subscribers (ARPU ~ $35 vs. $50+ for smartphones)

• Sprint and Verizon saw their postpaid churn trend lower on a year-over-year basis. AT&T witnessed higher churn on account of its feature phone attrition, while T-Mobile also saw a slight bump in the metric owing to higher competitive activity.

• T-Mobile’s ARPU remains the lowest among the major carriers, driven by its value pricing and the earlier adoption of equipment installment plans, which offer lower service fees to customers in return for purchasing devices separately. T-Mobile’s ARPU remained almost flat year-over-year. Sprint and AT&T saw their ARPUs decline, driven by competitive pressures and lower service billings.

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