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To: slacker711 who wrote (17836)	1/15/2002 10:17:04 AM
From: Dave	Respond to of 34857

slacker, one never knows what will, or will not be, "that big of a deal" For the average consumer who has heard of "3G" services, they might be greatly disappointed.

To: slacker711 who wrote (17836)	1/16/2002 1:36:10 PM
From: Eric L	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 34857

re: EMC on Verizon Q4 Subs >> Verizon Wireless Sees Little Festive Cheer Mike Woolfrey EMC Cellular e-searchwireless.com Verizon Wireless has announced its subscriber additions for Q4 2001. The fourth quarter is normally an operator's bumper period, with net additions at their highest. Verizon Wireless' figure of 715,000 is the lowest in the company's history. The company did show a 383,000 drop in Q1 2001, this was attributed to a change in subscriber reporting policy resulting in 1.183 million subscribers being excluded from the count. Without this the net additions would have been around 800,000 for the period. <clip good chart available at source link> The total of 715,000 net additions is down 37,000 or 4.9% from Q3 2001 and a more alarming 508,000 or 41.5% on Q4 2000. The fall is supported by the recent news that RadioShack saw a decline in unit sales over the Christmas period. Whilst the news is more alarming for Sprint PCS, as it sells approximately 25% of its handsets through RadioShack, it does show that economic uncertainty could be reaching the consumer market. RadioShack is also a distribution channel for Verizon Wireless. Sprint PCS is yet to announce its subscriber figures for 2001, but in Q1, Q2 and Q3 it has continued to post results which appeared unaffected by the slowing economy. Verizon Wireless' performance may prove to be unique, although being the largest operator in the USA it could be taken to be a good indicator of what is to come. Despite this, Leap Wireless reported results confirming its position as one of the quickest expanding carriers in the USA. During Q4 2001 it added nearly 400,000 users, taking its subscriber base to 1.118 million users. Only Sprint PCS has reached one million users in fewer quarters. Leap operates in 39, mostly secondary, markets. By comparison Verizon Wireless operates in 97 of the top 100 markets covering 220 million POPs. With Sprint PCS and Leap appearing to outperform (in terms of net additions) the market, it would appear that each company's attitude to prepaid is working. Prepaid has traditionally been used by operators to rapidly grow market share, whilst 2001 did see operators rethink the counting of prepaid subscribers (especially Western European ones) it remains a market that needs to be addressed. US operators have historically kept away from prepaid, but in Sprint PCS' ASL plan and Leap's flat rate local offerings, the two appear to have a product that appeals to potential prepaid users. Verizon Wireless had around 2.86 million gross additions during Q4 2001, 20% of these being prepaid. Churn prevented net additions falling even further, down to 2.5%, from 2.7% in Q4 2000, but rising sequentially from 2.2% in Q3 2001. Postpaid churn was 2.1% for the quarter << - Eric -