Communications services have become an important part of modern life (e.g., phone service, internet service, text messaging service, paging service, GPS service, music service, gaming service, and the like), as have the devices associated with the communications (e.g., telephones, including cellular telephones, computers, notebook computers, personal digital assistants, music players, gaming systems and the like). As one example, cellular telephone usage has proliferated rapidly over the past decade. By some estimates, cellular telephone usage in the United States alone has grown from 34 million users in 1995 to over 200 million in 2005.
Subscriber metrics describe characteristics of subscribers, especially as they relate to carriers. For example, subscriber metrics may estimate carrier market share (e.g., the number of subscribers associated with a given carrier in a market as a percentage of the total number of subscribers in the market), the number of subscribers associated with a carrier in a market, carrier churn rate, carrier activation rate (or number of activations for a carrier in a given period), carrier deactivation rate (or number of deactivations for a carrier in a given period), and the like.
By analyzing subscriber metrics, carriers may be better able to utilize marketing resources. This may include being able to determine needs or preferences of subscribers and offering products or services that appeal to those needs or preferences.
Changes in subscriber metrics may happen over short periods of time. Carriers may find it beneficial to be apprised of subscriber metrics often and with little lag time. For example, if carriers are timely informed of changes in the needs or preferences of subscribers, carriers may be able to reallocate resources in response to changing subscriber needs or preferences.