• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Local and Long Distance Service Bundling is Taking Hold

Posted on: Tuesday, 10 February 2004, 06:00 CST

6% of Households Buy Local and Long Distance Service in

one Bundle while SBC and Verizon are Tied as the Second

Largest Long Distance Carrier

¶ The number of households purchasing local and long distance telephone service in one package, or bundle, rose 17% in the third quarter of 2003, to just over 6% of all U.S. households, according to data released today by TNS Telecoms, a global provider of strategic and tactical market information and analysis for the telecommunications industry. ¶ As local telecom providers (such as Verizon and SBC) continue to add long distance offerings and long distance companies (such as AT&T and MCI) offer local service this number is expected to grow. The national average amount spent on bundled plans including local, long distance and local toll is $69.95 per month. ¶"Convergence is definitely taking hold," remarks Charles White, vice president, TNS Telecoms. "This may only be the beginning of the age of bundling as customers and service providers alike both praise the benefits of these offers: customers save money while service providers gain revenue and strengthen customer relationships."¶ The most recent quarterly data also demonstrate that SBC and Verizon are tied as the second largest long distance carrier at 14% of households served. "The notion of the 'big three' long distance carriers (AT&T, MCI and Sprint) may soon be a thing of the past," remarks White. -0- *T

Telecom Industry Market Share - Third Quarter 2003

Wired Line Share of Revenue

(Share includes total spending on local, IntraLATA and InterLATA long distance and local and LD integrated plan spending)

Company Share of

Revenue ------------- ---------- Verizon 21% ------------- ---------- SBC 19% ------------- ---------- BellSouth 10% ------------- ---------- AT&T 9% ------------- ---------- Qwest 7% ------------- ---------- MCI 6% ------------- ---------- Sprint 6% ------------- ---------- Other 32% ------------- ----------

Share of Bundled Customers

(Share of households with bundled local and LD services provided under one plan)

Company Share of Share of

Households Revenue ------------------ ------------- ---------- Verizon 30% 25% ------------------ ------------- ---------- MCI 24% 31% ------------------ ------------- ---------- Sage Telecom 6% 5% ------------------ ------------- ---------- Frontier/Citizens 6% 5% ------------------ ------------- ---------- AT&T 4% 4% ------------------ ------------- ---------- SBC 4% 4% ------------------ ------------- ---------- Sprint 4% 5% ------------------ ------------- ---------- Comcast 3% 3% ------------------ ------------- ---------- Other 19% 17% ------------------ ------------- ----------

Local Phone Services Market Share

Company Share of All Share of Non-Bundle Share of Customers

Households Revenue in service

(Includes all (Includes only Territory

households households without

including those bundles)

with bundles) ----------------------------- ------------------- -------------------- Verizon 25% 25% 86% ----------------------------- ------------------- -------------------- SBC 23% 23% 80% ----------------------------- ------------------- -------------------- BellSouth 11% 14% 87% ----------------------------- ------------------- -------------------- Qwest 9% 9% 84% ----------------------------- ------------------- -------------------- Sprint 5% 6% 99% ----------------------------- ------------------- -------------------- Other 20% 23% N/A ----------------------------- ------------------- --------------------

LD Phone Service Market Share (Includes IntraLATA and InterLATA calling)

Company Share of All Households Share of Non-Bundle

(Includes all households Revenue (Includes only

including those with households without

bundles) bundles) --------------------------------------- ------------------------- AT&T 27% 29% --------------------------------------- ------------------------- SBC 14% 10% --------------------------------------- ------------------------- Verizon 14% 8% --------------------------------------- ------------------------- MCI 12% 12% --------------------------------------- ------------------------- Sprint 7% 6% --------------------------------------- ------------------------- BellSouth 4% 3% --------------------------------------- ------------------------- VarTec 4% 3% --------------------------------------- ------------------------- Qwest 3% 3% --------------------------------------- ------------------------- Other 32% 26% --------------------------------------- -------------------------

Wireless Services Market Share

Company Share of Share of Revenue

Households ----------------------- ------------- ---------------- Verizon Wireless 25% 25% ----------------------- ------------- ---------------- Cingular 18% 19% ----------------------- ------------- ---------------- AT&T Wireless 16% 14% ----------------------- ------------- ---------------- Sprint PCS 11% 12% ----------------------- ------------- ---------------- T-Mobile 6% 5% ----------------------- ------------- ---------------- ALLTEL Mobile 6% 5% ----------------------- ------------- ---------------- Nextel 4% 6% ----------------------- ------------- ---------------- Cellular One 2% 2% ----------------------- ------------- ---------------- Other 13% 11% ----------------------- ------------- ----------------

Internet Service Market Share (Includes Dial-Up and High Speed Access)

Company Share of Share of

Households Revenue -------------------- ------------- ---------- AOL 26% 24% -------------------- ------------- ---------- MSN 8% 7% -------------------- ------------- ---------- Comcast 6% 9% -------------------- ------------- ---------- Earthlink 5% 4% -------------------- ------------- ---------- SBC Yahoo 5% 5% -------------------- ------------- ---------- Time Warner 3% 5% -------------------- ------------- ---------- Other 49% 46% -------------------- ------------- ----------

Cable/Satellite Service Market Share

Company Share of Share of

Households Revenue --------------------------- -------------- ------------ Comcast 25% 24% --------------------------- -------------- ------------ DirecTV 13% 15% --------------------------- -------------- ------------ Time Warner 11% 12% --------------------------- -------------- ------------ Dish Network 9% 10% --------------------------- -------------- ------------ Charter Communications 8% 8% --------------------------- -------------- ------------ Cox Communications 7% 7% --------------------------- -------------- ------------ Adelphia 6% 6% --------------------------- -------------- ------------ Other 21% 18% --------------------------- -------------- ------------

Share of Customer Spending

(Share of total telecom spending spent on each product category)

Service Share of

Revenue ------------------- ---------- Wired 31% ------------------- ---------- Wireless 29% ------------------- ---------- Video 27% ------------------- ---------- Internet 12% ------------------- ----------

Average Consumer Spending (for all households)

Service Average Monthly

Spending --------------------- ----------------- Wired $48.82 --------------------- ----------------- Wireless $45.83 --------------------- ----------------- Cable/Satellite TV $42.30 --------------------- ----------------- Internet $18.56 --------------------- ----------------- Total $155.51 --------------------- -----------------

Average Wired Line Spending

Service Average Monthly Average Monthly

Spending for Non- Spending for

Bundled Customers Bundled

Customers ------------------------------ ----------------------- --------------- Local $36.99 Included ------------------------------ ----------------------- --------------- Local Toll/ IntraLATA $1.55 Included ------------------------------ ----------------------- --------------- Long Distance/ InterLATA $8.91 Included ------------------------------ ----------------------- --------------- Total Wired Line Spending $47.45 $69.95 ------------------------------ ----------------------- --------------- *T

¶ About the Research

¶ TNS Telecoms collects responses through its Bill Harvesting(R) database from 32,000 U.S. households that provide their complete set of telecommunications bills, promotional bill inserts and telecom direct mail communications each year. In the business market, TNS Telecoms' BusinessWave(R) research gathers telecom behavior information from small, medium and large businesses across the U.S. Together this syndicated information provides a number of product offerings including databases, TNS reports and online applications allowing national, state, city and micro level analysis across the U.S.

¶ About TNS Telecoms

¶ TNS Telecoms, the specialist telecoms division of TNS, is a global provider of strategic and tactical market information and analysis for telecom service providers and the entire telecommunications industry. Its range of syndicated research solutions and custom capabilities allows TNS Telecoms to meet the changing market information challenges of telecom-related businesses. For more information please go to http://www.tnstelecoms.com.

¶ About TNS

¶ TNS is one of the world's leading market information groups. We provide market measurement, analysis and insight through our global network of operating companies in 70 countries. Working with national and multi-national organizations, we help our clients to develop effective business strategies and enhance relationships with their customers. In July 2003, the group merged with NFO WorldGroup, Inc. Further information on TNS can be found on http://www.tns-global.com.

¶ TNS is a trade mark of Taylor Nelson Sofres plc.

¶ Editor's Note: Please source all data and tables as "Source: TNS Telecoms." Fourth Quarter 2003 Tracking Metrics will be available in April 2004. Bill Harvesting and BusinessWave are registered trademarks of TNS Telecoms.

More News in this Category