US Wireless Market In Expansion Mode

It is now twenty years since the first cellular call was made and statistics show that mobile subscribers are using their phones more than ever before. Total billable minutes of use (MOUs) for the first six months of the year were over 380 billion, compared with 292 billion a year earlier.

Text messaging has been slow to catch on in the US but in the past year, SMS traffic has grown at a similar rate to voice services (see America Wakes Up To The Text Phenomenon). Over 1.2 billion messages were transmitted in June, a 31% increase on the 930 million sent in the comparative month last year.

“The wireless industry is sending a clear message to Wall Street and to policymakers – wireless technology is still the best innovator in business today, as it has been for the past 20 years,” said Tom Wheeler, president and CEO of CTIA. “Despite tough economic conditions, wireless continues to shine as more consumers are using more wireless minutes and choosing more wireless services.”

The most striking growth has occurred in data services with revenues up by 70% to $700 million in the first half of 2003. This reflects the widening choice of ringtones and pictures as well as the availability of mobile internet services and operators are constantly pushing back the boundaries in their efforts to provide users with the ultimate wireless experience.