U.S. mobile data service revenues jump to $10.6B in Q2

Mobile data service revenues in the U.S. topped $10 billion for the second straight quarter as the wireless data market grew 7 percent in Q2 to $10.6 billion, a 30 percent year-over-year increase. Research firm Chetan Sharma Consulting reports that Verizon Wireless and AT&T experienced the most quarterly growth, topping the 8 percent mark, followed by T-Mobile USA at 6 percent--Verizon's data revenues are now almost $4 billion per quarter, just behind longtime global leader NTT DoCoMo. AT&T and Verizon now represent 69 percent of U.S. market data services revenues and 61 percent of the total subscriber base.

Chetan Sharma notes that the average industry percentage contribution of data to overall ARPU is now 27 percent, with the U.S. market likely to close in on the 30 percent mark in 2009. Overall ARPU decreased by $0.23 as sverage voice ARPU declined by $0.45 and average data ARPU grew by $0.68. Sprint led in data ARPU with $15.50, followed by Verizon at $14.96. In terms of percentage contribution, Verizon is tops at 29.28 percent, followed by AT&T at 28.74 percent.

As of the end of the second quarter, 65 percent of all U.S. subscribers now use some form of data services. Messaging volume grew 15 percent in Q2, and messaging revenue increased 11 percent over Q1.Subscribers now average nearly 540 messages per month, which translates to close to one message per hour per subscriber. Non-messaging services continue to represent between 50 percent and 65 percent of U.S. operator data revenues.

"Given the strong growth in data revenues shown by the top carriers and the increase in service revenues overall, the worst is over for the U.S. mobile industry," Sharma writes. "In summary, the recession has been all but a tiny blip in its growth trend and the U.S. mobile market has weathered the downward spiral in economy better than its counterparts in other developed nations."

For more on the Chetan Sharma report:
- read this release [1]

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