U.S. wireless subscribers top 270 million

The U.S. wireless industry expanded to 270 million total subscribers at the end of 2008, a 15 million year-over-year increase, according to CTIA president and CEO Steve Largent. Speaking today at the industry organization's annual CTIA Wireless event, Largent said that U.S. subscribers spent a combined 2.2 trillion minutes on their mobile devices last year, a 100 billion minute increase over 2007. In addition, U.S. consumers sent 1 trillion text messages, almost tripling the previous year's SMS traffic. "Our industry is vibrant--a shining light in an unfortunately troubled time," Largent said.

A visibly shaken Largent opened today's keynote with a moment of silence in honor of longtime CTIA vice president of wireless Internet Mark Desautels, who died Monday of an apparent heart attack.