Its churn rate, on the other hand, is of concern. T-Mobile’s subscriber attrition has bounced between 2.3 and 2.5 percent, something it must address. But maybe this metric isn’t as important today as a slew of hot devices. John Ruf, managing partner at New England Consulting Group,thinks so. Ruf commented on PCMag.com, “Historically churn has been driven by customer service and plans, but now I think it's driven more by all the new phones that are coming out.”

Verizon Makes Market Moves

Verizon is in the news this month, as it has recently announced a partnership with Duke Energy to provide the wireless technology for an energy smart grid in Charlotte, North Carolina. This is the second move for the carrier into the energy market, having partnered with eMeter earlier this year. Herein we see the beginning of the much-heralded move to M2M, something analysts have said is a key strategy for the agile carrier of the future.

Verizon has also announced it will drop its unlimited data pricing for the iPhone sometime this summer, and will instead adopt a usage-based pricing model. The unlimited model was clearly part of Verizon’s strategy to snare iPhone customers from AT&T, who ditched all-you-can-eat data plans. Now that many users have signed contracts, Verizon wants to alleviate congestion and monetize bandwidth more effectively. A bait and switch tactic? Perhaps, but the rub could be ameliorate if real-time billing transparency is part of the charging/billing system, which is as yet unknown.

LTE will Prevail in Developing Countries

As the perceived battle for 4G standard supremacy rachets up, it looks like LTE is the strong frontrunner ahead of competing WiMAX, at least in the developing world. This comes from a combination of devices—the bullpen for LTE devices is many times larger than WiMAX—and LTE network development plans announced by the major global carriers. Recent commentary by C-level carrier players augments this analysis. To wit: Dan Hesse, CEO Sprint, said flat out, “LTE will likely be the larger of the 4G standards.”

Monetizing 4G

As the next-gen network approaches, B/OSS providers are releasing countless solutions to help carriers monetize their high-speed data and voice networks. From real-time billing and charging, to advanced analytic and predictive software, the industry is abuzz with “smart” back-office offerings.

Convergys, for example, announced its 4G solution just ahead of Mobile World Congress, a next-generation billing and customer care solution. “Whether or when providers see a return on all the smart phone traffic on their networks hinges on a different set of ‘smarts’ in the back office,” says Bob Lento, Convergys President, Information Management.

One thing both operators and B/OSS providers alike can agree on is that mobile data is rapidly outgrowing 3G and continuing to grow at an astounding rate. The most agile carriers must find a way to support customer demands while both providing superior QoE and monetizing data use in new ways to prevent bytes from slipping through the cracks unpaid.