MOBILE & WIRELESS U.S. Wireless Data Use Skyrockets, Says CTIA U.S. wireless networks are supporting unprecedented growth in data traffic, hosting an extraordinary 100.1 trillion megabytes in 2023, marking the biggest yearover-year increase in history and an 89 percent increase since 2021, according to CTIA’s 2024 Annual Wireless Industry Survey. In fact, Americans used more wireless data in 2023 than they did from 2010 to 2018 combined. “This explosion of wireless data demand reflects the increasingly central role 5G plays in day-to-day life – from 5G home broadband to connected healthcare, autonomous transportation and advanced manufacturing,” said CTIA researchers. And the growth is expected to continue, with Ericsson predicting Americans’ data usage will increase by more than three times by 2029. CTIA’s survey also showed how 5G is increasingly embedded into the way Americans live and work. By the end of 2023, nearly 40 percent of all wireless devices – from phones to smartwatches, IoT devices and more – had a 5G connection, a 34 percent increase compared to 2022, while more than 330 million Americans are now covered by one or more 5G networks. These 5G networks are providing a platform for other services and industries, said CTIA, including competitive and affordable 5G home broadband, which accounted for 95 percent of all new broadband subscriptions during the past two years. In addition, one out of five net 5G home adds were entirely new home broadband subscribers, underscoring 5G’s role in helping to close the digital divide. All the while, CTIA figures showed that the cost per MB of wireless data has decreased 50 percent since 2020, bucking the overall upward trends in pricing for other consumer goods and services during the same period. At $.002 per MB today, wireless data prices have decreased 97 percent compared to a decade ago. To support the skyrocketing demand for 5G, the wireless industry continues to build out more cell sites. By the end of 2023, there were 432,469 operational cell sites across the U.S., a 24 percent increase since pivotal wireless siting reforms were enacted in 2018. Of course, Americans also continue to rely heavily on voice, SMS, and MMS messaging to keep in touch. Last year, Americans exchanged more than 2.1 trillion SMS and MMS messages, or more than 67,000 messages every second, said CTIA. Americans also collectively spent more than 2.4 trillion minutes talking on the phone. All told, the total number of wireless connections in the U.S. hit 558 million, more than 1.6 wireless connections for every American. o By Martin Vilaboy rsecurity Source: STL Partners; Cox Private Networks Reduced latency Enhanced SLAs Neutral Host in Enterprise Cellular Revenue by Enterprise Segment (World Markets: 2023 to 2030) Source: ABI Research 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 44% 43% 43% 41% 39% 38% 33% 40% 36% 33% 29% 25% 22% 20% 20% 20% 19% 19% 13% 45% 40% 36% 35% 33% 33% 33% 32% 31% hnology advisor when... 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 (US$ Billions) U.S. Wireless Data Over a Decade Source: CTIA 2013 3T 10T 16T 37T 53T 2X 100.1T MB 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 Data used in 2023 Increas in data use over 2021 16 CHANNELVISION | SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2024
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