New TeleGeography Research: Look who’s talking (the most!)

• TeleGeography announces the launch of its Wireless Operator Metrics service
• **A quarterly tracking service for 150 mobile operators
• **Spreadsheets and analysis delivered via email
• **Operational and financial indicators and rankings

Its official: US wireless customers use their phones most frequently, topping TeleGeography’s ranking of average minutes of user (MoU) per month in the last quarter of 2005. Indeed, according to Wireless Operator Metrics, TeleGeography’s new tracking service of the latest performance indicators for all major mobile operators worldwide, the top two placed companies – Cingular Wireless and Alltel Mobile – registered average monthly usages of 727 minutes and 626 minutes respectively, compared to an average (amongst 81 operators worldwide) of just 182 minutes. What is perhaps more surprising however, is how many cellcos from so-called ‘developing markets’ are in the top ten; Uzdunrobita of Uzebekistan is placed fourth with an average MOU in the fourth quarter of 455 minutes, followed by its MTS Belarus with 450 minutes and Thailand’s Hutxhison CAT Wireless Multimedia with 418 minutes. India’s Bharti Airtel and Hutchison Telecom (India) are ranked seventh and eighth, while the world’s largest cellco China Mobile weighs in with an impressive (given its 250 million customer base) 350 minutes. In tenth place is OT Iraq – arguably based in one of the world’s most volatile countries - with an average MoU of 320 minutes.

The highest place European cellco, according to Wireless Operator Metrics is SFR of France (12th, 296 minutes), followed by TeliaSonera Finland (14th, 281 minutes) and O2 Ireland (20th, 215 minutes). While three of the UK’s five cellcos appear closely together mid-table (Vodafone UK [38th, 146 minutes)], O2 UK [40th, 145 minutes] and Orange UK [41st, 144 minutes], a trio of German operators appear close to the bottom, with O2 Germany recording a fourth quarter monthly MoU of 115 minutes, placing it 59th, E-Plus Mobilfunk of 88 minutes (69th) and Vodafone Germany just 80 minutes (73rd). At the bottom of the rankings table, operators from Brazil, Turkey, Albania, Mexico, Ecuador and Kazakhstan make an appearance, with average monthly MoU figures of between 43 and 74 minutes.

TeleGeography's new Wireless Operator Metrics research service tracks the latest performance indicators for all major mobile operators worldwide and delivers these indicators to you in a quarterly spreadsheet. Each spreadsheet contains thousands of operational and financial data points for the last four quarters, as well as historical financial data for the last three years. Data points include:

Total and 3G subscribers at the group and subsidiary levels
Market shares
Pre-paid vs. post-paid subscribers
ARPU pre/post-paid
ARPU voice/data
Churn pre/post-paid
Minutes of use
Financial data including revenue, EBITDA, operating income, net income, CAPEX
Analytical charts and tables highlighting the largest and the fastest growing operators

For more information visit http://www.telegeography.com/products/wom/index.php or contact your account manager.

Source: TeleGeography's Wireless Operator Metrics