U.S. mobile data revenues exceed $12.5B in Q1

Mobile data revenues in the U.S. topped $12.5 billion in Q1, up 5 percent over the previous quarter and a year-over-year increase of 22 percent, according to research firm Chetan Sharma Consulting. The report notes that Verizon Wireless is now the world's largest mobile data operator in terms of revenue, edging past Japan's NTT DoCoMo, which held the title for roughly a decade--together, Verizon and rival AT&T now account for 69 percent of U.S. mobile data revenues and 62 percent of the nation's subscriber base.

Overall ARPU in the U.S. decreased by $0.17 in the first quarter, Chetan Sharma notes--average voice ARPU slipped by $0.84 while average data ARPU grew by $0.67, up 4.6 percent over the previous quarter. The average industry percentage contribution of data to overall ARPU surpassed the 30 percent benchmark in Q1, and is expected to top 35 percent by year's end. U.S. users now average 615 text messages per month, but non-messaging services continue to generate between 60 percent and 65 percent of U.S. operator data revenues.

Chetan Sharma anticipates that by the end of 2010, global off-deck data revenues will exceed on-deck for the first time, adding that while on-deck revenues remain in the billions, the trend appears "irreversible." The report adds the shift will occur in the U.S. in 2011.

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

Related articles:
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AT&T mobile data revenues up nearly $1 billion in Q1
Data now a third of Verizon Wireless service revenues