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T-Mobile a growth story, but AT&T laughing all the way to the bank: US carriers Q3 results ranking

By Daniel Petrov

Updated: Nov 14, 2016, 3:12 AM

T-Mobile a growth story, but AT&T laughing all the way to the bank: US carriers Q3 results ranking

The Q3 subscriber churn and financial result announcements of the big US carriers are already behind us, and there are quite a lot of movers and shakers, thanks to the disruptive business models of T-Mobile and Sprint. The smaller carriers operate with a much narrower profit margin, passing the difference over to subscribers.

Thus, they are widening their base for the sake of the big two - Verizon and AT&T - and this process has been going on for a while now. The big growth standout is T-Mobile, which added more than a million postpaid smartphone subs, while, as you can see, the one that's laughing all the way to the back has been AT&T, with just 10 million subs less than Verizon, but the highest average revenue per user of them all.

source: Strategy Analytics via FierceWireless

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Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena from 2010 to 2025, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.