Drawing a Bead on Growth at Verizon, AT&T

Verizon Wireless and AT&T have long ruled the U.S. wireless industry, adding subscribers and expanding margins as weaker rivals foundered. Now, it seems the good old days are gone.

Competition is heating up as Sprint and T-Mobile US, fresh off transformative deals, are investing in their networks and pushing new strategies. Analysts expect both to start adding subscribers. With overall growth in the industry slowing, any gains may come at the expense of Verizon Wireless and AT&T. So far, there is scant evidence of a subscriber-growth slowdown at the two giants. Verizon Communications, which co-owns Verizon Wireless with Vodafone Group, said that it added 941,000 postpaid connections in the second quarter, of which 472,000 were phones. AT&T, due to report second-quarter earnings Tuesday, said on June 6 that it expects postpaid, net wireless additions of about 500,000, including phones and other devices. But the upstarts' efforts are only getting under way. And carrier margins may already be showing some strain.