CTIA – The Wireless Association Releases New Wireless Industry Survey Results
CTIA – The Wireless Association announced today that wireless data service revenues for the first half of 2007 rose to $10.5 billion. This represents a 63% increase over the first half of 2006, when data revenues were $6.5 billion. Wireless data revenues now amount to 15.5% of all wireless service revenues, and represent money that consumers spend on non-voice services.
“American consumers are continuing to turn to wireless for their voice and data needs,” said CTIA-The Wireless Association President and CEO Steve Largent. “As wireless devices continue to evolve to meet ever-changing consumer demands, we are seeing an increase in the number of subscribers who are using wireless to surf the Internet, listen to music, watch video and take photographs. Wireless is the only medium that allows consumers to stay in-touch and connected while on-the-go and its popularity and usefulness continues to grow,” continued Largent.
The CTIA Semi-Annual Wireless Industry Survey was released this morning at CTIA WIRELESS IT & Entertainment 2007. The world’s largest data show, with more than 350 exhibitors and 15,000 attendees, is taking place between October 23rd and 25th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California.
The survey also revealed that text messaging again set new records, with 28.8 billion messages reported in the month of June 2007 alone — almost one billion messages a day. This represents an increase of 130% over June 2006. Wireless subscribers continue to capture and send more pictures and other multi-media messages, sending 2.6 billion MMS messages in the first half of 2007 — almost as many as were sent in all of 2006.
As of June 2007, the industry survey recorded more than 243 million wireless users. This represents a year-over-year increase of almost 24 million subscribers. The industry’s 12-month record for subscriber growth was reached in 2005, when 25.7 million new users came online.
Other highlights of the survey include: wireless customers using more than 1.1 trillion minutes in the first half of 2007, up 18% over the first half of 2006, and generating more than $67 billion in total wireless revenues in six months. More information about the survey can be found at http://www.ctia.org/advocacy/research/index.cfm/AID/10316.
Wireless Quick Facts: Mid-Year Figures
| Topic | June-07 | June-05 | June-00 | June-95 |
| Wireless Subscribers | 243.4M | 194.4M | 97M | 28.1M |
| Wireless Penetration % of total U.S. population |
81% | 66% | 34% | 11% |
| Wireless-Only Households1 % of U.S. Households |
12.8% | 7.7% | N/A | N/A |
| Direct Carrier Jobs | 257,000 | 225,000 | 159,000 | 61,000 |
| Wireless Carrier Payroll2 Direct Carrier Wages |
$13B | $12.2B | $1.8B | $1.7B |
| AnnualizedTotal Wireless Revenues | $134.7B | $110.3B | $46.9B | $18.6B |
| Annualized Wireless Data Revenues | $19.2B | $8.5B | $139.4M | N/A |
| Annualized Incremental Capital Investment | $23.6B | $19.8B | $9.9B | $5.6B |
| Minutes of Use | 1.95T | 1.26T | 194.95B | 31.5M |
| Monthly SMS Messages | 28.8B | 7.2B | 12.2B | N/A |
| Annualized Yearly SMS Messages | 240.8B | 57.2B | N/A | N/A |
| Cell Sites | 210,360 | 178,025 | 95,733 | 19,844 |
| E-911 Calls3 Per Day |
291K | 260K | 139K | 55K |
K=Thousand M=Million B=Billion T=Trillion
1 Wireless Substitution: Early Release of Estimates from the 2006 National Health Interview Survey, National Center for Health Statistics, May 14, 2007.
2 BLS Series data.
3 CTIA Wireless 9-1-1 and Distress Calls.
CTIA is the international association for the wireless telecommunications industry,representing carriers, manufacturers and wireless Internet providers. www.ctia.org
