Wireless Data Has Arrived -- CTIA Survey Shows 70% Increase in Data Service Revenues
Friday, 15 September 2006
The Wireless Association has announced that data service revenues for the first half of 2006 were $6.5 billion. This represents a 70 percent increase over the first half of 2005. Wireless data revenues now total almost 11 percent of all wireless service revenues.
"Data is no longer on the horizon; it is here today," said CTIA - The Wireless Association President and CEO Steve Largent. "Data is now a reality for wireless carriers and consumers alike. With healthy increases in wireless revenues and usage, it is safe to say that we are expanding the wireless frontier."
The CTIA Semi-Annual Wireless Industry Survey was released this morning at CTIA WIRELESS I.T & Entertainment 2006(R). The world's largest data show, with more than 300 exhibitors and 15,000 attendees, is taking place between September 12th and 14th at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
The survey also found that wireless carriers reached record total service revenues of $60.5 billion for the first six months of 2006.
The foundation for these strong results is a near record increase in wireless subscribership. As of June 2006, the industry survey recorded more than 219 million wireless users. This represents a year-over-year increase of 25 million subscribers. The industry's 12-month record for subscriber growth was reached in 2005, when 25.7 million new users came online.
Wireless carriers reported delivering more than 12.5 billion text messages in the month of June 2006, up 72 percent over the 7.3 billion messages for June 2005. The reported number of MMS messages delivered in the first half of 2006 was 1.1 billion, equal to the total number of MMS messages reported for all of 2005.
Other highlights of the survey include: wireless customers using more than 850 billion minutes in the first half of 2006, up 27 percent over the first half of 2005, and a $10 billion increase in capital investment. More information about the survey can be found at www.ctia.org.
CTIA is the international association for the wireless telecommunications industry, representing carriers, manufacturers and wireless Internet providers. www.ctia.org