U.S. mobile data revenues close to $20B in first half of '09

SAN DIEGO--Mobile data consumption continues to grow at a rapid pace, with data services now representing a quarter of total U.S. operator revenues--up 38 percent over year-ago totals--according to Steve Largent, president and CEO of CTIA. Speaking here at the CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment event, Largent said mobile data revenues topped $19.4 billion in the first half of 2009, a 31 percent year-over-year increase.

Wireless subscribers in the U.S. now total 276.6 million, Largent said. Consumers transmitted 740.3 billion text messages in the first half of 2009--roughly 4.5 billion messages per day. In addition, subscribers sent 10.3 billion multimedia messages in the first six months of this year, an 83 percent increase over the first half of 2008.

In a separate keynote, AT&T Mobility president and CEO Ralph de la Vega said the top 3 percent of smartphone users on its network are responsible for 40 percent of the operator's total data traffic. He added that the same top 3 percent of smartphone users consume 13 percent more data than AT&T's average smartphone user.