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TOP 5 CELL PHONE PROVIDERS (USA) |
TOP 1 |
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Verizon Wireless: Verizon Communications, Inc is an international broadband and telecommunications company. It is based in the Verizon Building in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The company’s name is a combination of Latin veritas (truth) and “horizon.”
Verizon was originally formed in 1983 as Bell Atlantic Corp by AT&T Corp as part of the AT&T breakup into seven “Baby Bells” (AT&T popularly having been called “Ma Bell”) following an anti-trust ruling against AT&T. Prior to its transformation into Verizon in 2000, Bell Atlantic had merged with one AT&T Regional Bell Operating Company in 1997. Verizon then inherited seven other Bell Operating Companies from AT&T following the latter's breakup.
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TOP 2 |
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AT&T: AT&T, Inc is the largest provider of landline telephony in the USA, and also provides broadband and subscription television services. AT&T is also the second largest provider of mobile telephony service in the USA with over 92 million wireless customers; just behind Verizon Wireless.
By 2010 AT&T was the seventh largest company in the USA by total revenue, as well as the third largest non-oil company in the USA (behind Walmart and Bank of America). It is the third largest company in Texas by total revenue (after ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips) and the largest non-oil company in Texas. It is also the largest company to have its headquarters in Dallas.
Southwestern Bell Corp was founded in 1983 as a Regional Bell Operating Company following the break-up of the original AT&T as a result of antitrust litigation. The company changed its name in 1995 to SBC Communications, Inc and again in 2005 to AT&T, Inc after acquiring its former parent company, AT&T Corp. The newly merged company adopted the iconic AT&T logo and T (for “telephone”) stock-trading symbol.
The current AT&T network reconstitutes much of the former Bell System and includes ten of the original Bell Operating Companies, along with one in which AT&T held part ownership (Southern New England Telephone) and AT&T’s original long-distance division. |
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TOP 3 |
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Sprint: Sprint Nextel Corp is a telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas. The company owns and operates Sprint, the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the USA after Verizon Wireless and AT&T, with over 48 million customers.
Sprint is also a global internet carrier. In the USA the company is the third largest long distance provider and also owns a majority share in Clearwire, which operates the largest wireless broadband network.
The company was renamed in 2005 upon the purchase of Nextel Communications by Sprint Corp. The company continues to operate using two distinct wireless network technologies, CDMA and iDEN (for Nextel and some Boost Mobile subscribers). In 2009, Sprint endorsed an agreement to outsource the management of its wireless networks to Ericsson.
Sprint Nextel launched its first WiMAX wireless device on 21 December 2008 (the Franklin Wireless u300 broadband card), and the first WiMAX phone available in the USA (the HTC Evo 4G) on 4 June 2010, applying WiMAX technology from Clearwire Corp. |
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TOP 4 |
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T-Mobile: In the USA, T-Mobile is a cellular telecommunications provider. It is wholly owned by Deutsche Telekom, itself based in Bonn, Germany, as part of the latter’s T-Mobile division. T-Mobile USA was formed from four US companies: VoiceStream Wireless, Aerial, Omnipoint, and Powertel (VoiceStream acquired Aerial, Omnipoint, and Powertel before T-Mobile bought VoiceStream). In May 2001, VoiceStream was acquired by Deutsche Telekom for US$24 billion, and in September 2002 the combined US company's name changed to T-Mobile. Based in Bellevue, Washington, T-Mobile USA is currently the fourth largest wireless carrier in the US market behind Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and Sprint, with 33.8 million customers at the end of the third quarter of 2010 and annual revenue of US$21.53 billion for its 2009 fiscal year.
T-Mobile USA pioneered a number of features: it was the first US carrier to launch a ringback tones service nationally (CallerTunes), video messaging, and “HiFi Ringers” (ringtones that are clips of actual songs), and it became the first company to use and promote Google’s Android operating system with the launch of the G1. |
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TOP 5 |
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Boost: Boost Mobile is the brand name of a wireless prepaid service that is owned by Sprint Nextel, operating within the Sprint Prepaid Group. Boost Mobile uses Sprint Nextel's CDMA and iDEN networks. It was originally launched in Australia through Optus in 2000 and in New Zealand through Telecom New Zealand in 2001.
Boost Mobile was founded by Peter Adderton in Australia and New Zealand in 2000. Adderton and Craig Cooper brought it to the United States in 2001, entering into a joint venture with Nextel Communications to launch and market the brand. One attraction of Boost Mobile for urban minority customer groups was that Boost's Walkie Talkie (Nextel's Direct Connect), at US$1 a day (US$30 per month), was the only way in the early 2000s to have something resembling unlimited voice minutes. Boost Walkie Talkie only connected to other Nextel/Boost IDEN subscribers.
Nextel bought the American division of Boost Mobile in 2003. Until late 2004, Boost Mobile was only available in selected markets, mainly in California and Nevada. Prior to its purchase of Boost Mobile, Nextel had focused primarily on the business market.
With Sprint Corp's purchase of Nextel in 2006 Boost Mobile was left a wholly owned subsidiary of the newly formed Sprint Nextel Corp. At the end of 2006, Boost launched its Unlimited by Boost Mobile Service over the CDMA network. |
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