Some fun facts from CTIA’s mid-year 2007 survey results (Download PDF):
* At the end of first half of 2007, there were 243.4 million subscribers or about 10.4M net new additions. UBS Research estimates that number works out to about 80% penetration of the U.S. population, versus 77% at year-end 2006 and 73% at mid-year 2006.
* For the first half of 2007, CTIA survey pegged wireless revenues at $68.7 billion up 12% from last year.
* Data revenues continued to show robust growth of 63% and contributed roughly 15% to total revenues.
* Average revenue per user (ARPU) was $49.94.
* Minutes of use (MOU) per subscriber were 732. It all added up to 1.1 trillion minutes of talk. That’s a lot of yakking!
* In 1H 2007, the average local call’s length was 3.13 minutes.
* CTIA says wireless carriers added 14,747 cell sites in 1H07 which still doesn’t explain why call quality continues to suck on pretty much every network.
Verizon continues to lead all US carriers in interface mangling. Its UI “enhancements” decrease productivity by an average of 64 percent per handset.
Apple’s recent strategy of no longer accepting cash or gift certificates for its iPhone has started a trend. T-Mobile will no longer accept checks or credit-card payments for monthly fees; instead, its customers are expected to compensate the company with pints of blood. Homes with family plans will have to donate organs.
Investments in new technologies have slowed. Sprint’s board of directors has shown severe displeasure at investing in any technology that will give the company a competitive edge in the future. Instead, it will let the other mobile carriers surpass it while it clings to its comfortable, but archaic ways.
The entire country of South Korea laughs when it learns what the US considers its wireless business.
Windows Mobile 6.
Most carriers include SMS as part of their data numbers. I would be interested to know what percentage of data is SMS and how it impacts these growth numbers.
Is the ARPU and minutes of use figures for the entire year, per user? If yes, that sounds rather low!
that information is for first six months of 2007.
14,747 cell sites in 1H07, but networks still suck: two theories. Theory 1, they are counting technology overlays like EVDO and HSPxA as new cell sites and these do nothing to improve voice service, which is the standard by which most of us judge network quality. Theory 2, none of these sites were built in places Om goes and thus, as far as he cares, network quality has not been improved. These theories are not mutually exclusive.