So if Sprint Nextel is going to announce customer losses this quarter, where did they all go? To Verizon, of course! The telecommunications superpower added 1.7 million subscribers in the third quarter, roughly a half-million more than rival AT&T. That gives keeps Verizon in the lead for postpaid customers, 59.4 million to AT&T’s 52.7 million. AT&T, though, has more overall subscribers when you count those of the wholesale variety and prepaid accounts, which give AT&T the edge 65.7 million to 63.7 million. The other important number for wireless carriers is churn, or turnover rate. Verizon’s actually rose this quarter, up from 1.24 percent to 1.27 percent. They’re still well ahead of AT&T, though, whose churn rate was 1.7 percent in the third quarter. At this rate, we could see Verizon overtake the nation’s No. 1 wireless carrier sometime next year, iPhone or no iPhone. Another positive for Verizon: they saw an increase in revenue per subscriber, a statistic coveted by those in the industry. It’s up 1.9 percent to $52.17, mainly the result in a 43 percent increase in spending on data. This not only includes PDA Internet deals and mobile web, but also text messaging and “Get It Now” downloads.
“They’re continuing to grow subscribers and getting more data usage out of their subscribers,” said Jonathan Atkin, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets in San Francisco. He expects the shares to keep pace with other telecommunications sector rivals.Verizon’s new slew of handsets could aid their growth during the holiday season. [Bloomberg]]]>