combined telecom Capex of AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, three major telecom
operators in the U.S., decreased 7.86 percent in Q3 2011 to $9.3 billion from
$10.1 billion in Q3 2010.
AT&T’s
Capex declined marginally to $5.22 billion in Q3 2011 from $5.27 billion in Q3
2010.
Verizon
spent $3.4 billion in Q3 2011 compared with $4.2 billion in the same quarter
previous year. Verizon’s capex for wireless was $1.8 billion, while the company
spent around $1.6 billion for expanding and upgrading wireline network. Till
date this year, Verizon’s wireline spend is down by 6.5 percent.
T-Mobile
increasedits quarterly Capex to $741 million in
Q3 2011 from $688 million in Q3 2010. In the third quarter of 2011, incurred
capital expenditures remained consistent with the second quarter of 2011 and
the third quarter of 2010 as a result of the continued build-out of the HSPA+
21 and HSPA+ 42 networks.
T-Mobile
USA has continued to invest in its HSPA+ 42 network, which reached over 170
million people as of the end of the third quarter of 2011, doubling the
theoretical speed of its 4G network to 42 Mbps.
T-Mobile
posted service revenues of $4.67
billion in the third quarter of 2011, while its contract ARPU was $53.
In the third quarter of 2011, 10.1 million customers were using 3G/4G
smartphones, up 40 percent compared to 7.2 million in the third quarter of 2010.
T-Mobile USA served
33.6 million customers at the end of the second quarter of 2011.
For the
quarter ended September 30, 2011, AT&T’s consolidated revenues totaled
$31.5 billion, down $103 million, versus the year-earlier quarter. AT&T
posted a net gain in total wireless subscribers of 2.1 million, to reach
100.7 million in service.
In wireless,
capital spending in the third quarter totaled $1.8 billion, which was
significantly less than the $2.7 billion spend in each of the first 2 quarters
of this year. Second half spending will also be lower than the first half,
particularly with regard to 3G capacity.
Verizon
invested $12.5 billion in capital through 9 months. It is on track to meet its full
year guidance of $16.5 billion, which is equal to the amount Verizon spent last
year.
Consolidated revenue of Verizon in the third quarter increased
to $27.9 billion or 5.4 percent year-over-year. Retail postpaid ARPU was
$54.89, up 2.4 percent year-over-year.
By Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
