Saturday, April 30, 2011

Cellular Noise Disclaimer

We often glean information about the wireless carriers from investment information often written by stock specialists who reveal any investment they hold in companies they report about. We decided to see how much stake we have in these wireless companies.

Among the top three contributors to this and associated web sites, we each hold mutual funds that contain numerous wireless investments. Making a rough count, these funds hold AT&T in the greatest amount with Verizon coming in a not-so-close second. We also tallied small amounts in names like US Cellular, T-Mobile's parent Deutsche Telekom, and Sprint/Nextel. We also each found a few other tiny pieces of companies like nTelos, Atlantic Tele-network and US Mobility.

Our investments have never inhibited our commentary about any one particular carrier. Being a consumer-oriented online service actually puts us at odds with almost all of them. The biggest surprise was to find our greatest investment is in AT&T, the network that, up until recently, is the one of which we have been the most critical. One of the biggest reasons we changed our tune about AT&T is the loss of their exclusivity of the iPhone. Spreading out some of the biggest data hogs to Verizon Wireless has made life better for the rest of us who are staying with AT&T.

If wireless users like you and us keep these carriers operating to the benefit of the consumer, it should help both customers and investors benefit, and you can take that to the bank.

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