For the first time in the history of CTIA’s Semi-Annual Survey, there are more active wireless devices than Americans!
As CTIA President and CEO Steve Largent announced from the CTIA ENTERPRISE & APPLICATIONS™ keynote stage, as of June 2011, there were more wireless subscriber connections (322.9 million) than the population of the U.S. and its territories (315.5 million), which means the wireless penetration rate in the U.S. is now 102.4 percent.
From January 2011 to June 2011, wireless data traffic increased 111 percent to 341 billion megabytes. To put this into perspective:
- If 1 MB = 1 mile, you could take 714,000 roundtrips to the moon.
- If 1 MB = 1 minute, then the 535 members of Congress would be talking for 1,211 years. They would have been talking since Charlemagne was crowned in 800 AD.
When you combine the enormous increase in wireless data (and recognize the very short time period), along with the growing number of wireless devices, the semi-annual survey underscores the vital need for our members to purchase more spectrum from the federal government.
We provide a high-level review of the Mid-Year 2011 Survey Results
which includes:
- 322.9 million wireless subscriber connections (102.4 percent penetration rate), an increase of more than 27 million from July 2010 – June 2011.
- 2.251 trillion minutes of use (MOU) July 2010 – June 2011.
- 2.206 trillion SMS messages July 2010 – June 2011.
- 52.7 MMS messages July 2010 – June 2011.
- From January – June 2011, carriers handled more than 1.148 trillion minutes (an increase of 10 billion minutes), 1.138 trillion SMS messages (up by 16 percent) and 28.2 billion MMS messages.
- 95.8 million smartphones, an increase of 57 percent from June 2010.
- The average monthly bill fell 24 cents to $47.23 from June 2010.
- 278.3 million active data-capable devices (5 percent increase from June 2010).
- Annual capital investment increased by 28 percent to $27.5 billion. Since 2001, wireless companies have reported a cumulative total investment of $223 billion. These figures do not include the billions our carrier members paid to the U.S. government for spectrum.
The full Wireless Industry Indices report, providing a comprehensive review of the survey results over time, including a detailed series of benchmarks for industry performance and productivity, will be available in a few weeks. To make an advance purchase, please visit our eStore.