The US Mobile market is on a streak unlike any other in history. While the broader economy is having hiccups, the industry seems to be operating in a different universe. Q3 was industry’s best quarter in history for net-adds and service revenue. For the first time, the net-adds passed 10M in a quarter. Service revenues and postpaid revenues also hit new benchmarks. It is quite likely that 2022 will end up being the best year yet on many fronts.
In one of the most remarkable turnaround stories, T-Mobile became the number one mobile operator by valuation surpassing Verizon which was 33 times more valuable a decade ago.
AT&T again added more connections than any other operator in the US mobile industry history breaking the 7M milestone primarily on the back of its strong Connected Devices program which celebrated its own milestone by breaching the 100M mark. T-Mobile regained its lead in postpaid phone net-adds and Verizon topped in net-revenue gain for the quarter.
T-Mobile again added more broadband customers than rest of the major players combined. After going in red, Comcast and Charter had positive growth in the Internet segment though the mobile operators grew 10 times in the quarter. Cable companies are finally starting to acknowledge the threat of fixed wireless publicly.
On the mobile front, the cable companies had their best quarter with Comcast passing the 5M sub mark (Charter is close behind) in 5 years. The convergence battle will play out well into 2023.
There was consequential movement in adjacent areas as we had predicted – fixed wireless, MEC, private networks, and new applications and services. T-Mobile is using its spectrum advantage to go after the low-hanging fruit of fixed wireless in certain markets while Verizon made investments in the MEC and private networks space. AT&T also continues to invest in the enterprise segment.
US picked up pace on the 5G front and kept its lead with China in percentage penetration. US has also outpaced China in 5G revenue by a significant margin. So, the “5G race” is in the eye of beholder, depending on the dimension of comparison, you can find a different winner.
Topics covered in the research update.
- Q3 2022 US Mobile Market Highlights
- T-Mobile – World’s Number 1 Operator
- Convergence: Broadband vs. Mobile
- AT&T – The journey towards 100M Connected Devices
- 5G and 4th Wave
- US wireless market competition in 2022
- US wireless market: Tier-2 Competition
- Signs of 5G Impact on ARPU, Revenues, and Price Wars
- Building Metaverse Ready Networks
- Private Networks Opportunity
- Global 5G Race Update
- Quantumverse: Postcards from the Future
- What to Expect in the Coming Months?
- US Wireless Market Q3 2022 Analysis
- Service Revenues
- ARPU
- Subscribers
- Competition
- 5G Progress
- Fixed Wireless Progress
- 4th Wave Progress
- Connected Devices
- Handsets
Editorial Notes:
Chetan Sharma Consulting Research Papers and Quarterly Updates have long shaped the industry dialog. Based on reader feedback and demand, we are pleased to announce that the papers and updates are now available as part of the subscription service. You can send a note to research@chetansharma.com to inquire about pricing.
