Phone Numbers

DirecTV Extends Lead Over DISH in DBS Market Share Battle

2011-12-19T00:43:00Z

While fewer ILECs are emphasizing their DBS resale offerings these days, the battle between the nation's two providers is still ongoing--and still being won (hands down) by DirecTV. Based on current trends, DirecTV might pass Comcast as the nation's largest video service provider in the coming year.

Video Subs Fall Across the Board for Cablecos

2011-12-18T17:49:00Z

The publicly traded cable companies lost 422k video subscribers in 3Q11, with Comcast and Time Warner suffering the biggest losses. Cablecos have collectively trimmed 2.5% off of their television customer bases YoY, while their video penetration of homes passed fell from 45.3% to 43.5% YoY in 3Q11.

More Than 80% of Basic Cable Subs Take Broadband Service Too

2011-12-15T17:58:00Z

Cable providers continued to improve their penetration rates on voice and broadband services in the third quarter, based both on basic subscribers as well as homes passed. The public cablecos now provide voice service to nearly 44% of basic subscribers and provide broadband services to 81.5% of basic subs. Based on homes passed, however, the cable companies are providing voice to 19% and broadband to 35.5%.

ILEC Broadband Penetration of Voice Lines at 42.3%

2011-12-15T17:37:00Z

Growth in broadband connections continues to be a bright spot for beleaguered ILECs; in the third quarter, broadband penetration of voice lines grew to 42.3%--although falling access line figures accounts for a portion of that increase. Meanwhile, the median video penetration level for the public ILECs expanded to 13.4% in the latest quarter.

CATV Voice and Internet Subs Continue to Rise

2011-12-15T17:12:00Z

Cablecos continued to add to their non-video connection totals in 3Q11, adding 217k voice lines and 550k Internet subs in the quarter. On an annual basis, the cable providers collectively grew their voice connections 12% and broadband connections 7.1% in 3Q11. Comcast once again accounted for the largest share of the overall gains in 3Q11, while some of the smaller cablecos added to their customer bases through acquisitions.

Wireline Connections Slide as Video and Broadband Fail to Replace Voice Losses

2011-12-14T17:27:00Z

Despite some encouraging trends in broadband and video, ILECs continued to see their wireline connections fall overall in the year ended September 30, 2011. The largest companies are losing voice customers at a rapid pace, but a few smaller companies were able to buck the trend. Richelle Elberg examines wireline connections trends among the ILECs.

ILECs Growing Video Market Share

2011-12-14T17:20:00Z

At the end of the third quarter, wireless providers controlled nearly three quarters of the market for voice services, while ILECs were dominant (by a hair) in providing broadband service and the cablecos remained on top for video services. Richelle Elberg reviews the latest market share shifts.

Wireless Connection Growth Accelerating; Up 10% YoY

2011-12-13T18:24:00Z

Wireless connections growth has reaccelerated in 2011 after slowing in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. But the market share shift away from smaller providers, which we've been covering for the past several years, continued in 3Q11. Richelle Elberg tallies the trends in wireless connections in the third quarter.

DirecTV and AT&T Narrow the Gap for Top Spots in Video, Wireless

2011-12-13T17:26:00Z

While the top providers in all categories remained unchanged in 3Q11, DirecTV narrowed Comcast’s video connection lead and AT&T inched closer to Verizon’s leading wireless count in the quarter. Overall, the top ten wireless providers reported the strongest gains in 3Q11, adding a combined 4.9m connections, while the top ten wireline voice providers shed 2.1m voice lines.

Broadband Share of ILEC Connections Nears 20%

2011-12-12T15:44:36Z

While connection mixes for ILECs remained heavily weighted towards wireline and wireless voice subs in 3Q11, the shift towards broadband and video subs continued in the quarter. On average, broadband subs made up 19.2% of connections for ILECs, while 13 of the 14 LECs with a television offering reported a YoY increase in video share in 3Q11. Meanwhile, the average wireline voice share of connection mix declined YoY, hovering above 50%.

U-Verse Outgains FiOS in 3Q11

2011-12-11T23:22:42Z

AT&T added 176k U-Verse subscribers in 3Q11, outpacing the net gain of 138k FiOS subscribers reported by Verizon. FiOS however continues to compare favorably with U-Verse in terms of penetration of homes passed—30% to 25%. As both telcos wrap up their FTTX rollouts in the coming year, improving penetration in their current markets becomes increasingly important. Verizon’s new marketing agreement with the cablecos though could hurt FiOS’ penetration in some of its footprint.

ILEC 3Q11 Quarterly Results: Frontier Communications

2011-11-30T19:39:00Z

Residential Customers Fall 10% in 3Q11

While the popular strategy amongst the ILECs of late has been to shift focus away from residential service to the business community, Frontier (NYSE:FTR) has chosen a different path. As other LECs have transitioned into managed services and data center operations through M&A, Frontier put its stake in the ground when it acquired 4.8m access lines from Verizon (NYSE:VZ). As such, given the industry-wide trend of access line losses, Frontier’s sizable subscriber losses and revenue declines in 3Q11 did not come as a surprise.

Frontier lost 10% of its residential customer base YoY in 3Q11, ending the quarter with 3.1m subscribers. A small portion of the sub losses was associated Frontier’s effort to shake some of the unprofitable FiOS customers it acquired from Verizon. While the decline in residential access lines was predictable for Frontier, its loss of 31,000 business customers YoY, or 9.8% of its customer base, is more discouraging.

Frontier ceo Mary Agnes Wilderotter spoke to the $6m decline in commercial/business revenues on the earnings call. “The revenue decline in commercial was really one-time items. And it was clean-up of settlements and disputes that have been out there for a very long time. So we wanted to put all that behind us. That's a one-time issue.”

Donald Chaisson, Frontier cfo, later clarified the “one-time” items amounted for $4.5m-$5m of the $6m YoY decline in business revenues, which indicates the overall trend for commercial revenues was still downward in 3Q11.

Overall the access line losses led to revenue declines of 8% to $1.3b in the third quarter, and net income also dropped 30% to $20.4m. Frontier’s operating results however were not all negative. The company appears to have been successful thus far in realizing the cost synergies it projected when purchasing its Verizon properties.

Wilderotter provided analysts with an update on the Verizon integration on the earnings call. “We generated $18m of incremental cost synergies (from the Verizon acquisition) in 3Q11. Our total is now $496m, putting us 83% of the way toward our $600m 2012 goal. The largest contributor to the synergies in 3Q11 was the full impact of traffic migration to our own national backbone. We will realize additional synergies as we convert the remaining acquired property systems onto Frontier's legacy system. In 3Q11, our cumulative synergies helped Frontier generate a 47% EBITDA margin.”

Frontier is also in the process of expanding broadband services to its acquired properties. It reached an additional 126k homes in 3Q11 with broadband access, bringing its year to date total to 352k homes. The upgrades to the former Verizon lines should improve monthly ARPU, as Frontier’s legacy access lines generate $85 a month, while ARPU inclusive of the Verizon lines was only $79.22 during 3Q11.

In addition to its broadband expansion efforts, Frontier has inked some reseller agreements in hope of giving its top and bottom lines a boost going forward. The telco has entered into agreements with both of the leading satellite providers, DirecTV (Nasdaq:DTV) and Dish Networks (Nasdaq:DISH), to resell their satellite TV packages and in November it signed a deal with AT&T (NYSE:T) that will allow the ILEC to provide wireless voice and data services to its customers. Frontier plans to bundle wireless with its satellite TV, DSL and traditional wireline voice services.

ILEC 3Q11 Quarterly Results: HickoryTech

2011-11-29T21:23:00Z

The name of the game at HickoryTech continues to be shifting its revenue mix to business and broadband-centric services. The telco relied on a strong performance from its business sector in 3Q11 to compensate for losses in its telecom sector, en route to reporting overall YoY gains in revenue and operating cash flow. With a $24m fiber build ongoing, HickoryTech continues to invest in expanding its broadband services.

ILEC 3Q11 Quarterly Results: Shenandoah Telecommunications

2011-11-28T20:33:35Z

In recent quarters, Shenandoah Telecommunication’s top line has benefited from its 2010 acquisitions, and 3Q11 was no different as its revenue jumped 17.7% YoY. Rising costs however dampened its 3Q11 earnings, which dropped 25% YoY, to $3m. On Shenandoah’s 3Q11 earnings call, analysts pressed management on the growing operating expenses in its cable and wireless segments, but Shentel’s comments suggest costs will continue to point upward in the foreseeable future.

ILEC 3Q11 Quarterly Results: Alaska Communications

2011-11-28T19:00:00Z

Alaska Communication’s revenue rose slightly in 3Q11, up .6% YoY, while it pared its quarterly loss from $3.0m to $.8m. Roaming wireless revenue shot up $3.9m in 3Q11 fueling ACS’ gains, but a new entrant onto the Alaska wireless scene promises to reduce ACS’ roaming take in the future. Verizon is laying the groundwork for its own wireless network in Alaska, posing a threat to ACS’ most profitable segment in the coming years.

ILEC 3Q11 Results Summary: Telephone & Data Systems

2011-11-28T15:46:10Z

In 2011, TDS Telecom has reversed course from a year of declining revenues in 2010 thanks to its acquisition three of MSPs and data center operators. On the wireless side, subscriber losses continued to mount at majority owned U.S. Cellular in 3Q11. In need of a shot in the arm, U.S. Cellular surprisingly turned down a contract to add the iPhone to its arsenal, a decision that management discussed on its 3Q11 earnings call.

ILEC 3Q11 Quarterly Results: NTELOS

2011-11-22T20:00:34Z

Waiting for Growth Initiatives to Kick In

In its final quarter as a combined wireless/wireline company, NTELOS Holdings Corp. reported mixed results, despite management’s stated belief that both new companies—Lumos Networks and NTELOS (now wireless only)—are well positioned for future growth. NTELOS completed the spinoff of Lumos Networks on October 31, and ceo James Hyde said, “This event is clearly the most significant in the company’s 114 year history and reflects our commitment to best positioning both companies for the future. It is truly an exciting time as both companies now move forward with highly-focused strategies to capitalize on the growth opportunities unique to each.”

But when it comes to growth, the two new companies aren’t quite there yet. 3Q11 declines in wireless subscribers were characterized as “seasonal,” and solid growth in wireless wholesale revenue from Sprint did help offset the losses, allowing for a 7% YoY increase in wireless revenue. But wireless subscriber revenue fell on both YoY and sequential bases, to $62.5m down from $66.1m in Q310. Retail subscribers fell to just under 415k, down about 9,800 in the quarter, and subscriber churn was a relatively high 3.7% in the period. Prepaid results were more encouraging as the company’s new $45 per month, all-inclusive rate plan led to a 14% increase in gross adds. NTELOS introduced the FRAWG Unlimited Everything plan in June and believes that the plan “eliminated a competitive pricing disadvantage and, through anticipated churn reductions, potentially enhances lifetime revenues.” NTELOS is also expecting stronger smartphone sales to enhance revenue in coming quarters. Smartphones accounted for two-thirds of postpaid gross adds in the period, up from just 17% a year earlier. Management noted that, “These related costs are fully reflected in the quarter, while revenues are expected to continue to benefit future periods.” At the end of the quarter, NTELOS’ smartphone/data card penetration of the postpaid sub base was 34%, up from 18% a year ago.

Wireline revenue jumped due to the inclusion of the FiberNet acquisition that Lumos Networks completed in December of last year, but on a pro forma basis the top line slid YoY, from $39.1m in 2010 to $38.6m in the competitive wireline segment (which accounts for 75% of wireline revenue). The company said, “Growth from data products was mitigated by revenue decreases in competitive voice, long distance and other legacy products resulting primarily from anticipated off-network, voice customer churn in the acquired markets.”

And in the RLEC, revenue fell 11% YoY to $12.4m “reflecting access revenue losses.” Of a $0.5m decline QoQ, the company noted that $0.6m was due to the biennial regulatory access rate reset that when into effect on July 1. Lumos is looking for growth ahead in its enterprise data products and wireless carrier backhaul. Michael Moneymaker, president of Lumos Networks said, “With market data demand only in early stages, we are well positioned for continued sales successes in these key segments.”

Certainly both NTELOS Wireless and Lumos Networks have divisions poised for growth in future quarters, though based on third quarter results it does remain unclear as to whether or not that growth will be adequate to offset market pressure in legacy businesses.

ILEC 3Q11 Results Summary: Cincinnati Bell

2011-11-20T23:17:00Z

Cincinnati Bell made a big bet on data centers with its purchase of CyrusOne for $525m in 2010. The investment paid off in 3Q11, as colocation revenues jumped 18% in the quarter, driving Cincinnati Bell’s overall top line up 5% YoY. The company has significantly increased its capital investments in data centers and fiber over the past five quarters, and its financial performance is showing improvement as a result.

ILEC 3Q11 Results: CenturyLink

2011-11-18T19:21:24Z

Integration of Acquistions Right on Course

CenturyLink impressed investors on November 2 with its third quarter results and its progress in integrating several major acquisitions over the past few years, including Embarq, Qwest and cloud computing concern Savvis. In the company’s 3Q11 conference call, ceo Glenn Post outlined the company’s progress in four areas that are considered critical to CenturyLink’s future growth: broadband expansion, fiber-to-the-tower (FTTT), managed hosting/cloud services and its residential IPTV offering Prism TV.

Despite solid results in these key growth areas, however, pro forma revenue continues to slide with access line losses—although the line losses have slowed to a 7.1% pace in the trailing twelve months, compared with a pro forma 7.8% decline the year prior. Another positive note: the company says it is on track to achieve all of the anticipated synergies from its three acquisitions on schedule, and that once all integration is complete, it will save $1b a year in operating and capital expenditures.

The company saw improved broadband connections growth in the quarter, adding 57k new high speed Internet customers in the quarter, compared with just 12k net adds in 2Q11. The company is deploying fiber-to-the-node (FTTN) infrastructure and now passes 5.5m housing units. CenturyLink has also enabled over 330 central offices with Ethernet over copper capabilities, which is targeted toward the small/medium business (SMB) market.

In its FTTT efforts, Post noted that they added nearly 1,000 new sites in the quarter to bring the total to 8,200. He added that another 2,000 sites will be connected in 4Q11.

Post commented that the company is expanding its data center capacity in response to growing demand for Savvis’ managed hosting and cloud services, although he also mentioned that the difficult economy has had an impact on new bookings; 4Q11 bookings for Savvis are expected to improve. Post added, “Managed hosting and cloud services are important for the future of our industry and we are committed to investing in this key growth driver. As part of this commitment, we are expanding our datacenter footprint in five cities to bring our total sellable square footage to approximately 2 million square feet by the end of this year.”

Finally, Post described how its Prism TV service is slowing access line losses and helping increase broadband penetration. “Over the past 12 months, our Prism subscriber base has grown 103% with nearly 25% growth in the third quarter alone. In terms of pull-through of other services, 70% of our Prism customers have a triple play and almost 50% of our Prism adds are new customers with strong attachment rate to high-speed Internet and voice services.” Prism TV is now available to 1m households and CenturyLink intends to deploy to between 4.5m-5m by 2015. Post also noted that by leveraging existing network investments like FTTN, its cost per household to deploy Prism TV is below $200.

Overall it seems CenturyLink is achieving its goals with its recent acquisitions and focus on higher growth areas—though it still has some work to do to make up for access line losses, particularly now that it owns Qwest.

ILEC 3Q11 Results Summary: SureWest

2011-11-15T23:19:34Z

Positive Connections and Revenue Trends; Bottom Line Still Struggling

SureWest Communications was one of the first publicly-traded ILECs (not including the RBOCs) to wholly embrace a fiber strategy and commit large dollars to rolling out FTTH, first in its home market of Sacramento, California and later in Kansas City, Missouri (following the 2008 buy of Everest Broadband). Thanks to the depressed cash flows and high debt ratios that resulted from these aggressive investments, investors stayed away for several years and the stock traded as low as $5.61/share just over a year ago…Fast forward a year and SureWest has since seen its share price double and SURW gained 10% the day after its third quarter earnings announcement October 27.

One factor in the resurgence in investor confidence was the company’s reinstatement of a dividend. Last March SureWest announced it would pay an $0.08/share quarterly cash dividend. High dividend yields had been attracting investors to many ILEC stocks for years, but SureWest's expansion plans prevented it from doing so. At the time, pres/ceo Steve Oldham said, “Our employees have executed extremely well on our strategy, providing significant and sustained growth over the last several years. Our growing Broadband segment now accounts for 72% of total company revenues. In addition, we have added high quality and sustainable commercial services revenues, such as wireless backhaul, and our Broadband commercial services revenues grew 17% year-over-year, with notable growth of 26% in our Kansas City market. A superior offering of predictable commercial services and the successful launch of our enhanced residential video service has convinced the Board that we can begin paying a modest cash dividend to our shareholders while we continue to grow revenues and cash flows. Additionally, the recent refinancing of our balance sheet at favorable rates and conditions has helped us take this significant step to increase shareholder value. We remain confident that we have the right products and services in the market delivered by the most skilled employees in the industry."

SureWest reported another quarter of relatively impressive operating results in 3Q11, and although its free cash flow was negative and earnings fell YoY, my sense is that SureWest’s long-planned strategy is poised to begin paying off.

Overall revenue grew by 3% YoY despite a 21% YoY decline in home voice connections—and the company was quick to point out that despite a loss of 6,500 access lines in the past year, an impressive 40% have migrated to its broadband/VoIP service. Broadband revenue from business customers increased by 13% while residential broadband revenue grew 9%, thanks to both an increase in the number of customers as well as higher ARPUs. SureWest generated 76% of its overall revenue via its broadband product in the quarter and said that monthly ARPU for residential triple-play customers was $145, up from $130 a year ago. Growing wireless backhaul revenue also contributed to the growth in broadband revenue and the company said that it should connect 390 sites and generate $4m in annual revenue with its backhaul service by the end of next year.

Free cash flow and net income were down, however, due both to increased spending on advertising to raise market awareness as well as higher programming costs for its Advanced Digital TV service and higher spending on network expansion. Also affecting the bottom line was the ongoing phase out of California High Cost Support, which will be completely eliminated following 4Q11, down from $6.1m in support in 2010.

ILEC 3Q11 Results Summary: Windstream

2011-11-14T18:29:54Z

Windstream has shifted its revenue mix towards business and broadband services, but the growth it sought in moving to a business-centric focus has yet to arrive. In 3Q11, Windstream’s pro forma revenues fell 1% YoY to $1.02b, while its operating margins and earnings slipped as well. With its PAETEC deal set to close in 1Q12 and a fiber-to-the-tower build ongoing, Windstream’s shift in service mix to businesses is poised to speed up, but whether that will translate into growth remains to be seen.

ILEC 3Q11 Results Summary: AT&T

2011-11-14T18:28:51Z

AT&T Riding the Mobile Broadband Wave

AT&T’s third quarter results were impressive. The company led the major wireless carriers in terms of subscriber growth—without a new iPhone launch and with no LTE coverage to speak of in the period. And now that it’s launching LTE and selling the iPhone 4S, management is extremely confident that its fourth quarter results will be even stronger. On the wireline side of the business, U-verse continues to perform well and the company now generates more than half of its revenue from broadband, video and VoIP products; voice and “other” accounted for the remainder of wireline revenue.

In the company’s conference call, Ralph de la Vega, ceo of AT&T Mobility, gushed about the progress and potential of its LTE network: “I am thrilled about what we're seeing with the LTE launch. I have been a part of many network and device transformations. And this technology quite frankly is the best I have ever seen in my career. The network technology is fantastic. The devices are fast. They're thin. They have great battery life. It's the first time that I think a network transition is going to be a home run right off the bat.”

He noted that smartphones make up 52% of the base now and opined that virtually all subscribers will be using smartphones within two or three years. He continued, “And then you add on top of that these new devices like tablets and MiFis and e-Readers and telematics. And the growth opportunity is off the charts on this. And then you add to that the cloud, the fact that all of these devices in the future are going to want connectivity to the cloud, which means they need to have great bandwidth, great data capability…And the great thing about doing all of that is that we're doing it with a technology, LTE, that provides a reduced cost per megabyte, that is we can produce the megabyte a lot cheaper on LTE, and it's also more spectrally efficient. So lower cost, lower spectrum requirements and great revenue potential. I'm very bullish on what we're seeing in data, and I think we've only seen the tip of the iceberg because customers love the devices that are coming out and they love using high-speed data.”

When one analyst questioned de la Vega on the possibility that smartphone ARPU may begin eroding as lower end customers migrate over, he disagreed, and added that the company expects to add higher tier plans down the road: “In terms of the capability to grow ARPU, I think that we're going to see customers use more data, not less. I don't see an environment going into the future where customers are going to use less data. These products are too good. There's an incredible amount of streaming content that's available. So we're going to continue to see customer data usage increase. We have not seen a decline, and I don't see it any way to decline. That's why I feel so bullish about our position of having 50% of our base already on tiered plans, and we plan to make available more tiered options for customers in the future so they can enjoy the data services that they want. So what I see is exactly the opposite of the scenario you suggested, where everybody is actually using more data. I see it across every product category we sell and that more handsets that we get into a customer's hands that are smartphones, the more data that they use, not the less.”

He added that they are seeing overage from both tiered plans, but that the overage is small today: “I can't give you an exact number, but we do have overage from both plans...like I said before, we plan to make available more options to customers that may need higher usage categories in the future, so they can feel comfortable in stepping up but not feeling that they're having to pay an exorbitant amount. We want to encourage customers to use more and incur a little more cost if that's what they want to do…The other thing that I feel so bullish about is what is happening in the tablet arena. I mean, it's very obvious to me that this tablet revolution is going to continue. I don't see anything in the horizon that stops it, and I think customers are going to want both, some smartphones and a tablet. And they're going to see their content on the tablet in ways that's going to make them use more and more data. So I think the future of tablet computing is going to be very good for our industry.” De la Vega also said that the free iPhone 3GS, which AT&T is offering with a 2-year contract, has sold out, “We've seen a tremendous, tremendous demand for that device even though it's a generation old. And actually, we're getting more new subscribers coming on the 3GS on the average than other devices.”

AT&T also did well in the prepaid segment in the quarter, adding more than 100k net new prepaid subscribers. De la Vega noted that the new $50 GoPhone plan has been very well received and “we’re just getting started…We put in that plan some handsets that are very attractive. They're low cost, but they've been a huge hit in the marketplace, so we're seeing that business resurge for us...We have a very strong fourth quarter lineup, so I think we're going to continue to do well with GoPhone sales in the fourth quarter.”

On the wireline side of the business, cfo John Stephens was asked about margin trends given that the U-verse margins are generally lower than in the legacy business. The company has been cutting costs in an effort to strengthen wireline margins, but management said that the numerous storms as well as a technology upgrade affected the results in the quarter—adjusted for those factors the EBITDA margin for the wireline business was 32%.

AT&T has been aggressively working to move its legacy DSL customers onto U-verse. Stephens noted, “The most encouraging piece of the DSL story [is that] while our net adds for the quarter were about in the 5,000 range, we had 500,000 high-speed U-verse/IP DSLAM net adds. So we were able to convert a huge piece of our legacy DSL base into U-verse/IP DSLAM, and we saw gains in small business with that IP DSLAM product for the first time. We'll continue to focus on transforming those DSL lines into high speed. We get great speeds, great service to our customers, good ARPUs.” Stephens also noted that the company will promote its wireless broadband service, which it will deploy to 97% of the country, in those areas where it doesn’t have U-verse. “We believe that's going to be able to provide a wireless solution at a high speed, good quality, good cost, on a profitable basis for us. That's the long-term solution to the non-U-verse areas.”

ILEC 3Q11 Results Summary: Verizon

2011-11-11T17:32:29Z

FiOS and iPhones continue to drive subscriber growth and financial performance at Verizon, and the market has rewarded it with an improved stock price in 2011. After selling 6.5m iPhones in fewer than nine months, Verizon’s wireless subs, revenue and ARPU have been on the rise, but some red flags for Verizon’s future wireless growth have emerged.

Wireless Subscriber Trends in 3Q11: Big 3 Still Rule the Roost

2011-11-10T19:39:17Z

And the Winner is…..AT&T Mobility

I have to hand it to AT&T…though Verizon Wireless is generally considered the “quality network” leader and was expected to start handing AT&T its hat once it obtained the iPhone last February, AT&T has fought back admirably and was in fact the top-growth company in the third quarter in terms of both gross and net subscriber additions. AT&T added 2.1m net new customers in the quarter, bringing its total to 100.7m. Churn was a respectable 1.28% and gross additions approached 6m.

Verizon Wireless, already the nation’s largest wireless service provider, added 1.4m net new customers; based on churn of 1.26% monthly, Verizon added almost 5.5m gross new customers. And Sprint Nextel, which continued to rail against AT&T’s planned acquisition of T-Mobile USA in the quarter, added just under 1.3m net new customers. T-Mobile USA hasn’t released its third quarter results yet, but based on comments in parent Deutsche Telekom’s third quarter report we know that T-Mo lost subs in the quarter. T-Mo’s revenue fell by 3.3% in the quarter YoY; since it also reported that growing data revenue led to an increase in average monthly ARPU, we can assume that subscribers fell by more than the 3.3% revenue decline.

And then there’s everyone else. The subscriber numbers are an order of magnitude smaller when we look at MetroPCS, Leap Wireless, U.S. Cellular…MetroPCS grew its base by a paltry 69k, blaming the slower growth on “seasonal factors” and the “weak economy.” Leap Wireless managed to add 10k net new customers which actually gave the stock a boost considering the big sub losses Leap had been reporting. And U.S. Cellular lost another 145k in the quarter, its biggest quarterly loss this year.

Notably, Clearwire added nearly 1.9m net new customers in the quarter. The vast majority of Clearwire’s customers are of course wholesale customers actually added by its estranged step-parent Sprint Nextel. In fact, it looks to me that without the Clearwire 4G sales, Sprint wouldn’t have grown its base at all in the quarter, though the details get murky. Sprint reported a modest decline in postpaid retail subscriber and boasted strong prepaid net adds, but ongoing losses from its Nextel/iDEN side of the business offset much of those gains. Sprint also said that results at its prepaid subsidiaries Virgin Mobile and Boost improved in the quarter.

So, AT&T and Verizon are (not surprisingly) dominant again, particularly in the postpaid segment. Sprint appears to be winning prepaid share, perhaps from T-Mo, but also from Leap and MetroPCS. Sprint’s release of the new iPhone 4s in mid-October, combined with its unlimited data plans, could help it fight back in terms of market share for post-paid customers in the fourth quarter. Remember that neither AT&T nor Verizon offer unlimited data plans any longer.

If we include Clearwire in the mix, AT&T, Clearwire, Verizon and Sprint accounted for 32%, 28.5%, 21.2% and 19.3% of the total net additions in our sample for the quarter—leaving the “also-rans” with negative market share. But considering that Clearwire’s subscribers are also Sprint subscribers, I took a look at market shares excluding Clearwire. In this scenario, AT&T grabbed nearly 45% of net adds; Verizon got just under 30% and Sprint garnered about 27%. Once again, the other public companies lost share to the big three.

I think the biggest takeaway from this exercise is the fact that AT&T continues to be VERY dominant in terms of wireless market share—which could make it tough to get court approval for the pending T-Mo buy. But with T-Mo losing subs, it’s still a mystery to me why AT&T even wants it. Of course, the substantial breakup fee that it will owe to DT is no doubt a factor, but, as I’ve written before, there are better ways for AT&T so spend $39b!

GCI Wireless Growth Disappoints in 3Q11

2011-11-08T14:37:33Z

General Communication’s revenues rose from $171.5m to $177.7m YoY in 3Q11, fueled by 15% top line growth from its high speed Internet services. The data gains compensated for continuing access line losses and a disappointing performance from GCI’s consumer wireless segment, which struggled with 1% revenue growth. In September GCI launched 4G services in Anchorage and it has plans for more 4G rollouts before year end, which are expected to bolster its wireless performance.

DirecTV Adds 327k U.S. Subs in 3Q11

2011-11-04T18:41:38Z

At a time when the leading cablecos are reporting video declines for the past quarter, DirecTV announced its largest third quarter subscriber growth in seven years in 3Q11. The leading satellite provider added 327k video subs in the U.S. and another 574k customers in Latin America. The gains highlight the success of its decision to offer new customers its NFL Sunday Ticket package for free.

Charter Narrows Loss with Internet Gains

2011-11-03T14:44:20Z

Charter benefited from improved performance from its commercial services and an increase in residential Internet subscribers in 3Q11, driving a 3% YoY rise in revenue. Despite growing its top line, the cableco reported a loss for the sixth consecutive quarter at .79 a share. To bring it back to profitability in future quarters, Charter’s growth strategy is centered on its Internet services.

Cablevision 3Q11 Earnings Drop 65%

2011-11-02T14:00:27Z

Aggressive competition and rising programming costs continue to impact the performance of cable providers in 3Q11, as Cablevision reported disappointing numbers for the quarter. Cablevision’s earnings fell 65% and its revenues were flat excluding the impact of its Bresnan Cable acquisition. Management pointed to aggressive pricing from Verizon to explain lagging video subs and residential revenues, while operating costs increased 17% YoY, impacting Cablevision’s bottom line.

2Q11 Connections: DBS Subscribers

2011-10-28T12:47:45Z

2Q11 was not kind to satellite video providers, as DISH posted its second-worst quarterly customer loss on record and DirecTV added fewer customers in the U.S. than it has in any quarter since 2006. Satellite video subs overall were down 109k in 2Q11, amid active competition and an economy that continues to lag. For the ILECs in 2Q11, CenturyLink acquired Qwest’s 1m DirecTV subs, and Frontier renewed its partnership with DISH to offer satellite video services to its customers.

Time Warner Earnings Hit by Rising Video Costs and Restructuring Charges

2011-10-27T14:00:53Z

A rise in video programming costs and restructuring charges associated with Time Warner’s recent M&A activity contributed to a 1% decline in earnings for the cable provider in 3Q11. Aided by strong business services growth and the addition of 89k residential high speed data customers, Time Warner increased its top line 3.7% YoY to $4.9b, but its earnings lagged.