Verizon Leads in LIfetime Customer Value

The average subscriber lifetime revenue per subscriber was $2,589 in the third quarter of 2006, which was approximately flat to the same period in 2005. Over the past nine quarters, the general trend for lifetime revenue per subscriber is slightly positive.

But Verizon blows away its major competitors in this category, with a lifetime revenue of $4,081 in the third quarter of 2006, 48 percent higher than Cingular, for example.

Cingular's lifetime customer value was $2,704 in the third quarter. Sprint Nextel experienced a significant drop in its subscriber lifetime revenue declining by
approximately $1,000 to $2,145. T-Mobile trails all operators in this metric and experienced slightly negative trends over the period, with subscriber
lifetime revenue of $1,733 for the third quarter of 2006, approximately 33 percent below the industry average.

Average revenue per unit, churn rates and other operating efficiencies account for the differences.