US Mobile Data Subscribers Consumed Nearly 10 Trillion Megabytes In 2015

Sumit Passary, Tech Times 24 May 2016, 10:05 am

Americans used nearly 10 trillion megabytes of mobile data in 2015, which is about two times more than in 2014.

Smartphones and tablets have increasingly become popular within the last decade. Mobile phones are not just used for making or receiving telephone calls, but also for various infotainment purposes. Internet connectivity on mobile devices is also swelling as more users access data on-the-go.

Cellular Telephone Industries Association (CTIA) - The Wireless Association, is an international organization that represents the wireless communications industry, has released an Annual Survey Report that reveals the details of the wireless usage in the U.S.

The CTIA report says that in 2014 Americans used 4.06 trillion MB of wireless data. However, the usage spiked to 9.65 trillion MB in 2015. In 2010, the annual wireless data usage in the U.S. was 388 billion MB.

According to the report, monthly wireless data usage in 2015 was 804.2 billion MB as opposed to 338.4 billion MB in 2014. In 2010, the figure stood at 32.3 billion MB.

The report suggests that about 48 percent of all U.S. households rely only on mobile phones and have canceled their landlines. Smartphones are the most popular mobile device in the U.S. and its demand is still growing in the country.

There were more than 228 million smartphones in the U.S., an increase by about 10 percent from 2014. About 70 percent of Americans now owns a mobile phone.

"Americans today have mobile-first lives. In 2014, we had a record amount of data on our 4G networks. Remarkably, the amount of traffic on mobile networks more than doubled last year and shows no signs of slowing down," said Meredith Attwell Baker, CEO and President of CTIA.

Baker highlighted that the growth in the wireless industry reflects the need to focus on making more spectrum available to the mobile industry in the U.S.

Annual voice usage has not increased a lot when compared to data usage. The CTIA report suggests that annual voice usage in 2015 was 2.8 trillion minutes, which is up by 17 percent in comparison to 2.5 trillion minutes in 2014.

Texting has witnessed a drop in the U.S. The annual number of texts sent in the U.S. in 2015 was 1.89 trillion, which is a decline from 1.92 trillion in 2014 and 2.05 trillion in 2010. With easy Internet access on smartphones, more users are diverting to WhatsApp, Kik, Line, SnapChat and other messaging apps.

Check out a short video released by CTIA on the survey results.