Wireless Carriers National Perspective On Customer Acquisition & Retention.

Telephia, Inc. and Harris Interactive announced the launch of a new report providing nationally focused, carrier-based analysis of the U.S. wireless landscape. The first in a series of quarterly reports that examine national wireless metrics as well as statistics within individual markets, this research enables service providers to plan strategic customer acquisition and retention strategies and focus on increasing average revenue per user (ARPU) in a highly competitive wireless marketplace.

The Telephia/Harris Interactive Wireless Phone User Executive Summary, which contains syndicated information as well as client-tailored analysis, introduces the first large-sample national study of wireless phone users. The Executive Summary series of reports delivers actionable information to carrier customers and addresses key business issues for the industry.

The first wave of the series identifies which carriers are acquiring the most users, the directional flow of subscribers as they switch carriers and the main factors that drive new customers to wireless. It also highlights what percentage of each carrier’s subscriber base has contracts approaching expiration, representing retention threats.

The overall size of the wireless market stands at about 119 million users, or about 43 percent of the United States population, according to the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA). About 16 percent of those users were new subscribers, based on these survey results. (New subscribers are defined as those who became first-time subscribers within the past year.)

An increased focus by carriers on pre-paid plans appears to be among the chief drivers of incremental expansion in the wireless market. Newly acquired subscribers, according to Telephia’s analysis, are much more likely to be on pre-paid plans (16 percent) than the total subscriber base, which shows 10 percent pre-paid penetration.

Handset subsidies are also important in attracting new customers. Many of the subscribers who obtained a new handset in the past year (58 percent of total subscriber base) were first-time users (30 percent). Additionally, 28 percent more new-to-wireless users than general subscribers received a fully subsidized phone, and 75 percent more received their handset as a gift.

“Wireless subscriber penetration continues to rise, as carriers target new customer segments with pre-paid plans and offer free or heavily subsidized phones bundled into pricing plans,” said John Oyler, president of Telephia. “These and other types of initiatives will continue to fuel penetration growth as long as carriers remain sensitive to an evolving marketplace and take advantage of the critical market-level issues that are driving national dynamics.”