The Wireless Top 10

Even with cellular consolidation going strong, I was surprised at the Wireless Top 10, ranked by the number of subscribers. And that is changing. Number 9 Dobson is now part of AT&T and number 10 Suncom is now part of T-mobile. The Unlimited providers, Cricket and Metro PCS, are gradually moving to the middle and if they ever get together they'll challenge US Cellular for the #6 position. These numbers come from each company's quarterly reports. There won't be new numbers until the end of the 1st Quarter, so here's the Top 10 as of the end of 2007:

1. AT&T, 65.7 Million
2. Verizon Wireless, 63.7 Million
3. Sprint/Nextel, 54 Million
4. T-Mobile(US), 27.7 Million
5. Alltel, 12 Million
6. US Cellular, 6.1 Million
7. Metro PCS, 3.6 Million
8. Cricket (Leap Wireless), 2.9 Million
9. Dobson, 1.5 Million
10. Suncom, 1.1 Million

Who will move into the new Top 10? Centennial has a total of 1.1 million customers, but only 690,000 of them in the US. Unicel had potential, but soon should be gobbled up by Verizon Wireless. And will anyone snag Sprint? Pick your favorite small carrier and see what happens by the end of this month. Cincinnati Bell, anyone?