Dive Into Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile And Sprint Results; Scotch Talk - Carrier Wrap Episode 13

With all of the domestic market’s nationwide operators having reported at least some of their operating results for the final three months of 2015, RCR Wireless News Editor-in-Chief Dan Meyer was joined by Bill Ho, principal analyst at 556 Ventures, to dig into just what we witnessed and what to expect from the operators heading into 2016.

Boosted by strong prepaid growth, AT&T Mobility led rivals in total net connection additions for the final three months of 2015, tallying 2.2 million net connection additions.

AT&T Mobility’s overall growth numbers outpaced those from Verizon Wireless, which said it added 1.4 million “retail” connections in Q4, though AT&T Mobility’s postpaid growth was just one-third of the 1.5 million net connections reported by its most direct rival.

For bragging rights, AT&T Mobility did manage to outgrow T-Mobile US in terms of overall connection growth for the quarter, with its smaller rival reporting 2.1 million net connections for Q4 2015. But, similar to Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile US easily outpaced AT&T Mobility in terms of higher-revenue generating postpaid growth.

To round out the nationwide comparisons, Sprint managed less than one-quarter of AT&T Mobility’s overall growth for the quarter, though it did manage to nearly match it larger rival in terms of postpaid growth.

Looking ahead, Ho noted AT&T looks focused on further integration of its DirecTV and Mexico telecom assets, with continued momentum in the domestic prepaid space; Verizon Wireless looks to maintain its steady growth in the lucrative postpaid space while also bolstering its Go90 mobile video platform; T-Mobile US appears set to continue dominating the postpaid smartphone segment, with strong support from its MetroPCS prepaid business; and Sprint just needs to execute on a number of initiatives it has on deck.

Meyer and Ho used the last few minutes of the show to discuss Scotch, with both providing some insight into what they were drinking during the show as well as some thoughts on the proper number of Scotch varieties that should be kept at home. While perhaps mispronouncing some of the Scotch brands, both agreed Scotch was worth talking about and would probably look to discuss the topic on a future show.

Show more