In November 2003, a decision by the federal government allowed subscribers moving to other networks to take their mobile numbers with them, a move which has shaken the highly competitive US wireless sector.
One of the hardest hit by this decision seems to have been the US number-three operator, AT&T Wireless Services, which revealed last week that it had lost existing customers and failed to add several hundred thousand potential new ones due to technical problems associated with its customer care software, and the system it set up for handling the new rules.
T-Mobile USA is one of Deutsche Telekom’s main growth drivers, despite the fact that it is the smallest of the six US national mobile operators. At the end of 2003, it had 13.1 million subscribers and said it is gaining twice the number of customers it is losing under the number-portability rule.
America’s second biggest mobile operator, Cingular Wireless LLC, added 642,000 new subscribers in the fourth quarter. The market leader however is Verizon Wireless, which is expected to announce its results later this week.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Telekom also reported strong growth in high-speed internet connections in its home market of Germany. Connections via its broadband DSL service rose by 300,000 in the quarter and increased 43% from a year earlier to four million at the end of 2003. Many telecom operators are now banking on broadband connections to make up for falling revenues from fixed-line voice services.
T-Mobile Germany increased its number of customers by 705,000 over the fourth quarter, with 26.3 million customers at the end of the year. And T-Mobile UK reported customer numbers rose 1.2 million in the quarter, or 9.7%, after a flat first three quarters of 2003.
Telekom’s T-Online unit, Europe’s biggest internet provider, increased its customer base by 0.9 million to 13.1 million in 2003.
Deutsche Telekom is expected to report its full-year results on March 10.
This article is based on material originally published by ComputerWire
