The wireless industry used to be easy to understand and easy to track and compare. No longer. Yesterday there was one segment full of larger and smaller players. Today the industry seems to be split into three distinct segments of wireless networks including AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile US, US Cellular, C Spire Wireless and more.

This makes it more complex for customers, workers and investors to keep track of them all. True, each competitor tries to win your wireless business, so they all are competitors in that sense. However, over the last several years the industry really seems to be changing and splitting up into three distinct segments. Customers decide what they want, then look for the carriers that will fit their needs.

Wireless tier one

One segment is all-in-one companies like AT&T and Verizon Communications. They offer wireless as one slice of their pie. They also offer a wider variety of both wireless and wireline services. In fact, they are not identical any longer as they both are starting to move in different directions.

CenturyLink is the No. 3 local phone company, however they are not a wireless competitor.

AT&T is innovative and the fastest growing into different new segments. They offer wireless voice and data services, but they also offer wireline services, Internet and are rapidly expanding their television presence and blending TV with wireless.

Consider wireless television. AT&T’s U-verse IPTV and acquisition of DirecTV created new growth opportunities. Now TV customers can watch programming on their television sets at home or on their wireless devices, over the wireless network, any place they happen to be in the U.S. So they are both a regional competitor with traditional phone service and U-verse, which is IPTV, and a national competitor with their wireless services and DirecTV.

This, in fact, puts AT&T into direct competition with traditional cable TV providers like Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter, Cox and satellite provider Dish Network on a nationwide basis. This is why I think you will see some cable TV companies rushing to catch up over the next year. This industrywide transformation is very interesting to watch.

Verizon remains a strong competitor, but they are taking a different course. Within their region, they offer wireless voice and data and television over their FiOS IPTV network. They also offer wireless service on a nationwide basis. They have also started offering Go90, which is a new idea and a new way for users to watch some TV programming over wireless devices.

Both AT&T and Verizon are the two largest competitors in the wireless network space. They are also into many wireline services. They have been very similar over the last decade, however they are now beginning to have different strategies compared to each other and compared to every other competitor.

Wireless tier two

Both Sprint and T-Mobile US are transforming their companies and showing growth once again. These companies charge less than AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless in order to attract users, and it is working.

John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile US, has done a great job of building the company over the last several years. This is the same growth path I see Sprint on under CEO Marcelo Claure, although they are earlier in the process. This growth may be similar, but their spectrum position is not. Today Sprint has plenty of wireless spectrum. T-Mobile US does not. It will be interesting to see how this difference plays a role going forward.

Sprint is focused on improving market by market. T-Mobile US must get their hands on more spectrum. With that said, T-Mobile US is still aggressively rolling out bandwidth-intensive services like Binge On video over wireless. This will be interesting to watch going forward.

Sprint and T-Mobile US are wireless-only services. This means they are in a different segment of the wireless wars from AT&T and Verizon and they compete for a different slice of the user pie.

Wireless tier three

Tier three is actually split into four segments: national and regional, with those split into both postpaid and prepaid. There are also countless resellers or mobile virtual network operators, which are companies without their own network and instead sell services that run over networks from AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile US or Sprint.

There are quite a few national providers in both the postpaid and rapidly growing prepaid areas. Look at companies like Cricket Wireless, Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, MetroPCS, Consumer Cellular, Tracfone, Google Project Fi and many others.

The next group are smaller and more limited regional providers. Companies like C-Spire Wireless, Ntelos, SouthernLINC, Vtel and countless other small firms. These companies can offer good quality voice and some offer data services, but in a very small geographic area.

Wireless networks are changing

I hope you can begin to see and appreciate the important changes separating the wireless network industry into three distinct segments. The wireless industry completely reinvents itself every seven to 10 years. The last big shift was when the Apple iPhone and Google Android operating system were born roughly seven or eight years ago. And now wireless is starting to reinvent itself once again.

All these companies may compete for your wireless business, but these three segments mean there are actually fewer competitors to choose from depending what services you actually need and want.

Bottom line, as the wireless industry continues to grow and to fundamentally change, it is splitting into three distinct groups. Over time, the difference between these three segments will become more apparent.

This is important to customers, workers and investors. Customers, as they choose the carrier they need for what they want. Workers, as they see the choices of employment. Investors, as they compare the performance of different companies.