U.S. mobile data market grows 9.4% in Q3

The U.S. mobile data market continues to grow, reaching $6.4 billion in service revenues in the third quarter according to a new report issued by mobile advisory firm Chetan Sharma Consulting. Data revenues grew 9.4 percent over second quarter totals--overall 2007 data revenues now stand at $17.7 billion, with the holiday season still to come. According to Chetan Sharma, aggregate data revenues for the first nine months of 2007 are up 59 percent over the first three quarters of 2006, with a majority of revenue now derived from non-messaging applications and services.

While overall ARPU declined slightly by 12 cents from the second quarter to $53.50, data ARPU continued to climb, increasing by 53 cents over Q2 totals to $9.57. Chetan Sharma said Verizon Wireless continues to lead in both data ARPU as well as data as a percentage of overall ARPU at $10.60 and 20.3 percent respectively, adding that VZW is the first U.S. operator to surpass the $10 data ARPU and 20 percent data contribution benchmarks. Sprint also rose above the $10 mark in data ARPU but, at 16.95 percent, its data contributions are the lowest among the four major U.S. carriers. AT&T posted $9.35 data ARPU and an 18.4 percent data contribution, with T-Mobile at $8.32 and 17.9 percent. At $2 billion, Verizon accounted for almost 31 percent of U.S. mobile data revenues in Q3, followed by AT&T at $1.8 billion, Sprint at $1.2 billion, and T-Mobile at $676 million.

For more on the U.S. mobile data market:
- read this release [1]

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