U.S. mobile data market grows 40 percent in Q2

The U.S. wireless data market grew 40 percent in the second quarter compared to year-ago totals, generating $8.2 billion in data revenues, according to a new report issued by advisory firm Chetan Sharma Consulting. Mobile data has now yielded $15.7 billion in the first six months of 2008, a 38 percent increase over the first half of 2007 and on pace to reach $34 billion for the year.
Some Q2 highlights:

• Overall ARPU among U.S. operators increased by $0.46, with average voice ARPU declining by $0.05 while average data ARPU grew by $0.50.
• Verizon Wireless leads in data ARPU with $12.58 (or 24.4 percent of total revenues), followed by Sprint at $12 (or 21.4 percent), AT&T at $11.59 (or 22.9 percent) and T-Mobile USA at $8.60 (or 17 percent).
• Verizon generated an industry-record $2.6 billion in data revenues, followed by AT&T at $2.5 billion. Both operators are on target to exceed $10 billion in annual data revenues, and together they account for 62 percent of the U.S. market's total data services revenues.
• Non-messaging services account for 50 percent to 60 percent of U.S. operator data revenues.
• Venture investment in mobile is on the decline--during the first half of the year, private wireless firms announced $1.8B in 173 financings, compared to $2.7 billion in 209 financings over the first six months of 2007.

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

Related articles:
T-Mobile USA [2] data ARPU edges up in Q2
Sprint [3] stumbles again despite data growth