INTELLIGENCE FROM THE BROADBAND ECONOMY

Next time someone tries to pish-posh the significance of the U.S. wireless market, you might do well to point out that the U.S. accounts for almost one-tenth of the total global cellular subscribership. As of 2004, U.S. customers alone counted for 163 million of the 1.7 billion global subscribers, according to the Telecom Industry Association's recently released market review and forecast. Admittedly, America's percentages will probably fall as emerging mega-markets such as India and China drive full-bore into wireless, but, according to study, the U.S. will crack 200 million subscribers and account for $150 billion in spending in 2008. Perhaps most telling in the study, however, is the customer usage data TIA collected from CTIA, the FCC and its analysis firm. The study shows that the average revenue per voice minute stopped its decline and remained steady at 10 cents in 2004. What's more, total minutes used continued to increase, and the average monthly bill breached $50 in 2004 for the first time since 1996. Of course, voice prices are still falling so that means that all of the efforts that carriers have been putting into data services like SMS, ringtones and picture messaging might actually be paying some dividends.

Source: CTIA, FCC, TIA, Wilkofsky Gruen Associates