CTIA – The Wireless Association announced today that as of December 2007, the industry survey recorded more than 255 million wireless users. This represents a year-over-year increase of more than 22 million subscribers. The industry’s 12-month record for subscriber growth was reached in 2005, when 25.7 million new users came online.
“Wireless technology has deeply embedded itself into the fabric of our lives; changing the way we interact with the world around us,” said Steve Largent, President and CEO of CTIA – The Wireless Association. “Today more than 84% of America has embraced the wireless revolution, and the new industry survey results clearly show that wireless is the communications tool of choice for consumers. Year after year, the wireless industry continues to evolve, innovate, compete and grow at a rapid pace, and it looks like 2008 is right on track with this impressive trend.”
The survey also recorded record-breaking six-month wireless service revenues of $71 billion. Wireless data service revenues for the entirety of 2007 rose to more than $23 billion. This represents a 53% increase over 2006, when data revenue was $15.2 billion. Wireless data revenues for the year 2007 amounted to about 17% of all wireless service revenues, and represent money that consumers spend on non-voice services.
According to the survey, text messaging continues to be enormously popular, with more than 48 billion messages reported for the month of December 2007 alone–1.6 billion messages per day. This represents an increase of 157% over December 2006. Wireless subscribers are also sending more and more pictures and other multi-media messages, with nearly 4 billion MMS messages sent during the second half of 2007 alone, compared with 2.7 billion sent over the course of the entire year in 2006.
Other highlights of the survey include: wireless customers using more than 2 trillion minutes in 2007, up nearly 18% over 2006. More information about the survey can be found at http://www.ctia.org/advocacy/research/index.cfm/AID/10316.
The CTIA Semi-Annual Wireless Industry Survey results were released this morning at CTIA WIRELESS 2008. The most important global technology event of the year, with more than 1,100 exhibiting companies and 40,000 attendees from 125 countries, is taking place between April 1st and 3rd at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. CTIA is the international association for the wireless telecommunications industry, representing carriers, manufacturers and wireless Internet providers. http://www.ctia.org
