Wireless enjoys biggest QoQ jump in more than 20 quarters: Chetan Sharma Consulting

The wireless sector enjoyed its biggest quarter-over-quarter jump in service revenue in five years, according to Chetan Sharma Consulting. The good news extended to all four major carriers, with T-Mobile leading the way with 7% growth. Chetan Sharma  finds:

• Smartphone penetration is at 94%.
• The decline in tablets sales continued.
• The dominant net additions are connected cars and the Internet of Things. Combined, the overlapping groups represented 77% of net adds. AT&T dominated the connected cars segment during the quarter.
• The industry experienced record low churn.
• Data consumption in the US will be more than 8 GB per month by the end of 2018.
• Overall average revenue per user increased slightly due to a "softening of the price wars" and easier consumer spending as the economy improves. However, the entry of more non-phone devices led to a year-over-year ARPU decline of 4%.
• The upgrade cycle for the industry now is three years.