COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand for wireless services is driven by consumer income and innovative service offerings.
The profitability of individual companies depends on marketing and customer service. Large
companies have advantages in marketing and in delivering a comprehensive array of services
nationally. Small companies can compete effectively by delivering economically attractive
service packages tailored to niche groups regionally. The US industry is highly concentrated:
the four largest companies generate about 80 percent of industry revenue.
The proliferation of smartphones and tablets has to a large extent driven industry revenue and
R&D in recent years.

Industry
The Wireless Telecommunications Carriers industry benefited from the rapid
development of mobile devices. Additionally, infrastructure investments and
advancements in technology have also led to strong revenue growth. In the
next five years, the industry's performance will largely depend on how
competition unfolds for wireless spectrum. However, the industry is expected
to increase as a result of expanding demand for wireless data services.
The Wireless Telecommunications Carriers industry is increasingly capital intensive,
reflecting the high level of capital resources tied up in wireless telecommunications
networks and infrastructure. Using wages as a proxy for labor and depreciation as a
proxy for capital, IBISWorld estimates that for every dollar spent on labor, $1.46 is
spent on capital. In recent years, industry participants have invested considerable
capital resources (more than $100.0 billion over the past five years) in expanding
the capacity of existing wireless networks and rolling out new networks. This can be
seen in the rapid increase in cell sites that took place over the past five years.
Furthermore, these cell sites are being upgraded, which requires even more capital
investment