US Offiicially passes 250 Million wireless subscriber mark

This is amazing to think where we were 10 years ago

 

Yeah it is amazing how far we have come. I went from a bag phone to a razr. Also went from 60peak w/ 500 off peak mins to a 1000 w/ unlimted for a lot less money.

 

VoiceStream had less than 1M customers when I joined them in early 2000 (this was before any of their mergers had closed)

 

That number (250 million) may or may not be accurate, but CTIA is not the official word. Then again, the official word (the FCC) is hardly the most reliable organization. Their broadband data is an embarrassment.

Anyway, CTIA is neither official nor trustworthy. They are the same group that says the carriers are listening to their customers and that competition is driving the marketplace. What a joke! In reality, the wireless industry is the most complained-about business in the United States.

 

The carriers ARE the CTIA and they also tell the FCC what to do.

 

I am amazed that only 2% of the populace has less than four providers to choose from... although the 2% reside in neighboring counties Lol... a few western counties have only 2 providers: AT&T and Alltel... go north and it's only VZW and Alltel...

Wireless has come a long way since the late 90's... and it will only get better.

 

Ain't that the truth!

 

This is excellent news! The United States is finally catching up with countries in Europe that have significantly higher market penetration.

Rounding to a population of 300 million in the US, 250m represents about 83% saturation (assuming that 100% is with everyone). Since there are a large number of people that will not get phones (the elderly, etc.) ... Let's call that 10m -- which puts the saturation around 85%.

Once we get into the 92-95% range, we'll start to see increased competition as carriers have to finally differentiate themselves for customers. We might also see a growth of prepaid...

I think that surpassing 100% will be excellent (more lines than people, as is the case in the UK) -- carriers will be required to lower their prices and improve their networks in order to get more customers. As a result, the quality of service will shoot up. However, until that day.,...

 

I would like to see better hybrid prepaid. It may happen once the penetration reaches 90 percent, but that may only be hope.

Also, another thing that is taking off in Europe that I would like is "SIM only" plans, more minutes than regular plans in exchange for bringing your own phone. The European carriers love them because it saves them hundreds per customer in phone subsidizes. I am sure that the CDMA carriers could do something similar by registering the ESN numbers or using RUIM cards, although that would be a long shot.

 

The 100%+ territory is a strange land ...

In the UK approximately a third of young children (around 6 years old) have a mobile phone.
More than 5 million elderly people in the UK don't have a mobile phone.
The UK has a penetration rate of around 120% meaning that there must be several people with more than one mobile given the above points.
The approximately 72 million mobiles in the UK are used to send 4.7-4.8 billion text messages per month (approximately 4,000 per second).
Competition between networks for customers is so fierce that there are regularly deals giving away games consoles, tellys, flights, money, etc with mobile contracts.