American telecom service provider Verizon maintained its lead in the wireless market backed by its LTE network and Share Everything plans.
Verizon will continue to lead the U.S. industry in wireless revenue and subscribers in the first half of 2014 due to its time-to-market lead in LTE and Share Everything data plans, said Eric Costa, Analyst in TBR’s Networking and Mobility Practice, in his latest telecom analysis.
This will be industry-leading post-paid net additions of 1.6 million, the largest shared data plan subscriber base in the U.S. at 16.2 million, and the most profitable wireless segment in 4Q13.
Verizon will focus on its supplemental AWS LTE deployments to maintain its lead in the wireless market in 2014. Verizon is also a leader in the connected device and M2M segments, driven by its tablet and other Internet device sales. In addition, Verizon will invest in its FiOS and strategic services segments to slow wireline revenue losses in 2014.
Verizon ended 4Q13 with both total revenue growth of 3.4 percent and total subscriber net additions down year-to-year. Despite this decelerating growth, Verizon remained ahead of T-Mobile’s 869,000 post-paid net additions, and will likely lead AT&T in this segment as well. Verizon was still able to increase margins and profitability during the quarter, due to reduced operating costs from the more efficient LTE network.
Verizon will continue to deploy LTE over its AWS spectrum to increase network capacity and coverage in its major markets
Verizon announced it expects to deploy AWS spectrum in 50 cities in 1H14 to increase capacity for its LTE networks. Verizon will also expand its lineup of AWS-capable devices and roll out in-building coverage and Distributed Antenna Systems. The deployments will also provide support to launch services such as LTE Advanced and LTE Broadcast.
The deployments will be critical in the short term for Verizon as the operator experienced capacity issues in some of its major markets in 4Q13, including New York City, Chicago and San Francisco, which hampered the network’s service quality. The network difficulties are a result of customers migrating from 3G to LTE smartphones as LTE customers typically consume a considerably higher amount of data. Approximately 69 percent of Verizon’s mobile data traffic was attributed to LTE as of late January.
The AWS deployments will help Verizon to stay ahead of its competitors’ who are also implementing measures to enhance LTE coverage such as AT&T refarming its 1900 MHz PCS spectrum for LTE and the launch of the Sprint Spark tri-mode LTE service.
Verizon is quietly bringing in the highest post-paid net additions despite a growing price war in the U.S. market
Verizon continued to perform like the top wireless operator in the U.S. market during 4Q13, yet the company also came in slightly under the radar compared to its peers in terms of major wireless announcements over the past couple months. Verizon Wireless’ biggest news has been the supplemental LTE deployments and the recent spectrum sale to T-Mobile. The operator did not make any recent major changes to its post-paid offerings.
T-Mobile continued to charge ahead with high post-paid net additions and low price offerings. This has sparked AT&T and T-Mobile to launch new plan offerings and promotional offerings to entice customers. Throughout this pricing war, Verizon has kept its same Share Everything post-paid plans intact and continued to add postpaid subscribers despite its higher price points. This is due to Verizon’s lead in LTE coverage and high customer satisfaction.
Technology Business Research said Verizon will continue reporting the highest net additions in 1Q14 as the operator focuses on improving it’s already market leading LTE coverage. AT&T and T-Mobile will continue to battle over second place post-paid net additions while Sprint will lose post-paid subscribers throughout 1H14.
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