 cell tele- phones for a large share of their long-distance calling. The FCC's auction process raises a number of well-publicized problems, particularly with respect to bidder preferences for small businesses. 19 Yet The Rapid Growth of Wireless Telecommunications Table 7-1. U.S. Wireless Subscribers, December 31, 2003 Millions Carrier Subscribers Share (percent) AT&T Wireless Cingular Nextel Sprint PCS T-Mobile Qwest Verizon Others U.S. total 158.7 100.0 Source: Company websites; Cellular Telecommunications Inudstry Association, Semiannual Wireless Survey (December 2003). a. Acquired by Cingular in October 2004. the decision to carve the country into SO many areas for spectrum auctions has received little attention, even though it created a complex of roaming agreements among the hundreds of licensees across the country. Each car- rier had to establish agreements with carriers in every other area of the country to allow its subscribers to travel out of their home territory and still be able to use their cell phones. Since carrier technologies vary greatly, there may have been only one or two carriers in each market to negotiate with, or subscribers may have been forced to purchase "dual-mode" or "tri- mode" handsets to connect with carriers using different frequencies or technologies. This vast array of expensive roaming arrangements arose because each licensee was given market power in its own area. Wireless service evolved from a largely local service to a national service as each major carrier developed its own national network to avoid excessive roaming charges. Carriers began to merge, acquire licenses from other car- riers, and seek additional licenses in various FCC auctions. By the end of 2003, the five largest national carriers had 80 percent of all cellular sub- scribers (see table 7-1). Moreover, many of the smaller companies are affil- iated with these national carriers, and even Qwest has begun to offer its service over Sprint's national network. 20 Thus the wireless sector United States has been tr