Last quarter was a mostly solid one for the nation's wireless industry. Verizon (NYSE: VZ) only picked up 8,000 postpaid mobile phone customers, but AT&T (NYSE: T) and T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) more than offset that weakness by adding 708,000 and 854,000 postpaid phone customers, respectively, to their revenue mix. Growth for the full year is going similarly well, and the three mobile phone players now collectively serving on the order of 230 million postpaid phone customers. Add a few million more prepaid and non-phone mobile accounts to that figure.

But it's a number that could have been (and arguably should have been) bigger by about 10 million customers. The craziest part of this shortfall isn't its sheer size, however. What's so crazy is why the industry's stalwarts are 10 million shy of their potential customer headcount. The competition preventing the country's three biggest wireless service providers from attracting and retaining these customers isn't actually focusing on the mobile services side of the business. To these competitors, it's currently just a side business.

Regardless, given how well these alternative providers are still growing, it's competition that T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T can no longer afford to ignore.

Continue reading

Source Fool.com