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Who Owns the Largest Cellular Network in the U.S.?
onyx00 asks: "Cellular phones are everywhere nowadays. It seems that anywhere you go almost everyone has a cellular phone. Originally the high cost of air-time hindered their success, but now even ten-year-olds can afford to have one. With the many different cellular companies however, I wonder who owns the largest segments of the cellular networks? Some companies offer nationwide service, but is this by their own network, or by use of others? Who really "owns" the cellular network? Do any companies actually use satellites to help link their cellular segments?"
In terms of the actual coverage size of a single network, it's a toss-up between AT&T and the new Bell Atlantic/Vodaphone joint venture, Verizon. SBC/Bell South are also merging their wireless networks, but I don't think they have the same nationwide coverage that the other two ventures do. Sprint does have the largest _all-digital_ network but their digital network is not the largest- it's a little disingenuous, considering that there's really only one other all digital nationwide network (Voicestream/Omnipoint/Aerial). The digital networks of AT&T and Verizon are still larger than Sprint's, but they still have analog coverage in some areas. As for who will really give you the most seamless coverage across the country, AT&T's 1-rate plan will let you roam into all sorts of crappy little local providers' (i.e. companies that resell as Cellular One) areas with no roaming charges, although Verizon will also apparently do this now (they've started quite recently).
Cellular networks really are owned by the provider, or at least the radios on the towers and the spectrum rights. There's a trend in the industry towards tower consolidation, where independent companies buy the towers from cellular providers and then resell tower space to other providers in the area.
No cellular company uses satellites. There is at least one satellite company (Globalstar) that sells phones that use terrestrial networks as long as you're in range and then switch to satellite service when you're not. These services are often resold under a local provider's name, but the cellular company does not own or operate the satellites.