For the first time ever, the number of US wireless subscriber connections has exceeded the US population according to the latest CTIA semi-annual survey (January 2011 to June 2011). There are now 327.6 million connections for a population of 315.5 million in the US and its territories (Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands), giving the US a 103.9 percent wireless penetration rate. According to Steve Largent, President and CEO of CTIA:
“CTIA’s semi-annual survey proves that Americans love wireless and continue to rely on the most cutting-edge and innovative devices and services in the world. Clearly, we’re using wireless more every day, and the consensus of experts is that demand will continue to skyrocket by more than 50 times within the next five years.”
Other key findings of the survey all point to the growing use of wireless networks and devices:
- Wireless network traffic increased 111 percent over mid-year 2010 from 161.5 billion megabytes to 341.2 billion megabytes.
- Active smartphones and wireless-enabled PDAs increased 57 percent from 61.2 million to 95.8 million.
- Text messages sent and received grew to 1.138 trillion from 982.9 billion a year ago.
Not surprisingly, the CTIA urges for the allocation of more spectrum to wireless providers to ensure that they can meet the growing wireless demand.