I’m feeling optimistic about wireless competition. No, not just because it’s summer and I’m enjoying some travels.
As a soccer player and a football fan, my idea of a fun Sunday involves a fierce soccer game or sitting down to watch the Kansas City Chiefs slug it out with a division rival.
I see wireless competition the same way. Carriers get sharper and better when they face avid competition, just as I train harder when I know my soccer team is battling it out to win our division.
The main reason for my optimism in wireless competition? It’s the cable companies.
A few years go, I was worried. Sprint for years kept the wireless market interesting via cut-rate pricing and more than 3,000 yellow-hued stores. Sprint was bought out by T-Mobile. Also, I was concerned that Boost Mobile could be absorbed into Metro by T-Mobile, bringing an end to a feisty prepaid brand that was ably serving urban America.
The Sprint brand disappeared from the postpaid market, but fortunately, Boost Mobile was sold to Dish Network and continues to provide strong competition in urban America.
In essence, there is still a fourth player in most markets. It’s the cable co. Comcast and Charter have broadband networks covering roughly two-thirds of U.S. homes.
Killer numbers
Charter’s Spectrum Mobile is killing it. The company has added more than 600,000 mobile subscribers for two quarters in a row. Meanwhile, Comcast’s Xfinity Mobile is doing well also, adding more than 300,000 subscribers every quarter since 2021.
Remembering Pivot — Sprint’s disastrous partnership with cable companies that ended in 2007 — this success should not be taken for granted. I think the top reason for cable co success has been family lines at about $30 per month from both cable cos. There are now well more than 1,000 Spectrum and Xfinity stores and both companies are taking retail very seriously. Third, it is no mystery that both companies have large embedded bases to whom they are marketing, while offering enticing bundles like Spectrum One.
T-Mobile and Verizon are putting up killer numbers of their own in fixed wireless access. The carriers now have 6 million fixed wireless subscribers, which is putting heat on Comcast and Charter. T-Mobile is routinely adding more than 500,000 fixed wireless subscribers per quarter. This rise of inter-sector competition is another reason I’m smiling these days.
What about the other third of the U.S.?
Cable cos in the other one-third of the U.S. are increasingly launching their own MVNOs. Altice USA now has 151 Optimum stores, servicing broadband and wireless customers, not to even mention the company’s sales force, which is proactively pitching Optimum services.
Cox launched mobile services in December. This is significant, as Cox is the third-largest cable company in the U.S., with coverage of 7% of U.S. households.
Astound Mobile was announced in July. “Astound is making its mobile offering available to customers in approximately 4 million homes currently passed by the company across 12 states,” the company stated. This is being done in partnership with Reach, an MVNE that makes it easy for cable cos to launch mobile MVNOs, due to its platform and its relationship with national carriers.
Astound in July announced a long list of markets where Astound Mobile would be available. Wave7 Research recently reported that Astound Mobile is now live in Evansville, Indiana, with feet-on-the-street already pitching the company’s new wireless MVNO, while also pitching its established broadband and TV services.
WideOpenWest (WOW) is in the market also, as announced in February 2022. WOW passes 1.9 million customer locations in 14 markets.
The National Content & Technology Cooperative (NCTC) in February announced a partnership with Reach. The NCTC is an association of roughly 700 smaller cable cos. Details are pending, but any of these 700 companies potentially could launch a mobile MVNO.
The Walmart factor
Walmart is another reason I’m smiling. There are third-party reps pitching wireless services at most Walmart stores. Wave7 Research estimates that these reps are active in roughly 3,000 Walmart stores. Walmart is showing a strong commitment to wireless sales.
Before last November, getting free phones at Walmart was not a thing. By November, however, Metro by T-Mobile was offering a selection of phones that were free with in-store activation and this push is continuing. This offer seems to have pushed competitors to act, as since then, there have also been free phone offers at Walmart from Straight Talk, Cricket Wireless and Verizon Prepaid.
What about Dish Network and Boost Infinite?
I’m not a fan of the postpaid efforts today by Dish Network and Boost Infinite. Sure, Boost Infinite TV advertising has launched, featuring a new spokesman. A retail push in 25 markets was announced via a master dealer partner at the All Wireless & Prepaid Expo in August 2022, but that never materialized. Considering that Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile have more than 18,000 stores with scores of thousands of trained store reps, mature nationwide networks, business sales forces, and a broad array of product ranging from hotspots to tablets to trackers, Boost Infinite is so far no more than a blip on the radar screen.
One dim spot
Competition from regional carriers is waning. This is not new, but it is continuing. Three regional carriers are halting wireless services this year. They are Pioneer Cellular, Indigo Wireless, and West Central Wireless. Also, UScellular’s parent company Telephone & Data Systems has signaled that it is planning to explore “strategic alternatives” for the wireless company, which potentially could lead to a sale.
Competition is good, and it is fun
Primarily due to the rise of the cable cos and the advent of inter-sector competition, the wireless competitive environment is getting better, not worse. And if you want to watch a competitive NFL game this fall, I’m recommending the game that will be on November 20 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. The Chiefs will be hosting the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles will be looking to avenge their defeat by the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII in February.
Jeff Moore is Principal of Wave7 Research, a wireless research firm that covers U.S. postpaid, prepaid, and smartphone competition. Moore has 25 years of telecom industry experience, including 13 years of competitive intelligence work for Sprint. Follow him on Twitter @wave7jeff.
Industry Voices are opinion columns written by outside contributors—often industry experts or analysts—who are invited to the conversation by Fierce Wireless staff. They do not necessarily represent the opinions of Fierce Wireless.