US Mobile Market Update – Q3 2021
The US wireless industry is having its most successful year in history and is slated to cross $250 Billion in yearly revenues for the first time. The industry had another blockbuster quarter. The quarterly revenues were the highest ever in Q3. The competitive intensity around 5G continues to increase and the usage is going up as well.
Industry revenue grew YoY and churn stayed at record low levels. T-Mobile and AT&T again dominated postpaid net-adds. Cable companies are making measurable impact on postpaid. They have left US Cellular in rear view mirror in revenue and are likely to surpass Dish to become the dominant tier-2 block.
Industry had the 4th best net-add quarter in history. All top four quarters in net-adds have come in the last 5 quarters. Connected devices again dominated the net-adds with AT&T dominating overall net-adds again.
For the second straight time, AT&T surpassed T-Mobile in postpaid phone net-adds. Dish has lost more than 10% of its acquired customer base since the merger closed.
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 is starting to match China in percentage penetration and has exceeded South Korea in number of subs. US has also outpaced China in 5G revenue. So, the “5G race” is in the eye of beholder, depending on the dimension of comparison, you can find a different winner.
In terms of actual usage, Korea by far exceeds China and US in 5G mobile data traffic. In Q3, as expected, Korea’s 5G data traffic (57%) exceeded its 4G traffic. User consumption is typically 2.5-3x whereas in the US it is starting to catch-up.
Topics covered in the research update.
- Q3 2021 US Mobile Market Highlights
- The Biggest year in the history of the industry
- Signs of Impact of 5G on ARPU and Revenues
- Fixed wireless – Dawn of a new era?
- Will Metaverse Matter?
- Scenarios that could unfold in US-China Tech Competition
- US wireless market competition in 2021
- US wireless market: Tier-2 Competition
- Private Networks Opportunity
- Global 5G Race Update
- Quantum Leaps: Acceleration of Connected Intelligence
- What to Expect in the Coming Months?
- US Wireless Market Q3 2021 Analysis
- Service Revenues
- ARPU
- Subscribers
- Competition
- 5G Progress
- 4th Wave Progress
- Connected Devices
- Handsets
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