Sprint makes gains in data speeds

bii big four carrier customer churn

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Sprint is seeing notable network speed improvement, with average download speeds increasing 33% year-over-year (YoY) in September, according to data from Ookla.

Moreover, in over 25 of the company’s 99 key markets, YoY speed growth ranged from 40% to over 100%. Sprint users in Atlanta, for example, saw YoY download speed increases of 86% to reach 32 Mbps.

The carrier mainly attributed the increased data speeds to its rollout of 2.5 GHz spectrum, and anticipates further acceleration as it expands on other networking strategies like its Massive MIMO radios, which are expected to provide a tenfold increase in network capacity.

However, Sprint’s network overall is still the slowest of the Big 4 — the company has a speed score of 15.39, lagging behind T-Mobile at 23.17, Verizon at 21.13, and AT&T at 20.05, according to Ookla. That puts Sprint at a significant disadvantage in today’s carrier climate:

Sprint has struggled in the increasingly competitive US telecom market. The top four carriers, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint, have been locked in a price battle to win over consumers with competitive pricing and unlimited plans. While Sprint has launched numerous promotional offerings to undercut the competition, its subscriber base sees a higher churn rate than its competitors. As of Q2 2017, Sprint’s subscriber churn rate was 2.28%, higher than Verizon’s 1.19%, AT&T’s 1.28%, and T-Mobile’s 2.24%.
Consumers consider network speed a “must-have” offering from their carrier, and Sprint’s consumers are the least likely to rank their carrier well on network speed. Eighty-four percent of consumers said a high-speed mobile network is a need-to-have offering when selecting a wireless provider, and just 54% of Sprint subscribers ranked their carrier highly on network speed, according to BI Intelligence’s exclusive Digital Telecom Consumer Survey. For comparison, 78% of T-Mobile subscribers ranked their carrier well on network speed.

It hasn't been smooth sailing for telecoms in recent years. Native voice and messaging services, which once accounted for the vast majority of telecoms' subscriber revenue, are struggling to compete with over-the-top (OTT) apps, like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Viber — and they're losing.

A fierce and ongoing price war among the Big Four carriers is only compounding the pressure telecoms are facing. The consequent resurgence of unlimited data plans is straining carriers' networks, and revenues are suffering.

Nevertheless, telecoms are now better positioned than ever to play a bigger role in their subscribers' lives. Consumers spend more than half of their digital time on smartphones, compared with a third on PCs. This shift has effectively placed telecoms at the front door of consumers' digital experience.

Laurie Beaver, research associate for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has written a detailed report on the mobile carrier landscape that:

Describes how the US wireless carrier is shaping up.
Explores the effect of the fierce pricing wars taking place, and the methods carriers are using to retain their subscribers.
Highlights the new technology carriers are using to drive growth and revenue.
Looks at the potential barriers that could limit carriers' growth and examines who's best positioned to come out on top.

To get the full report, subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and more than 250 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> Learn More Now

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