Mobile's Data Usage & Revenues Disconnect

US mobile users consumed almost 400 petabytes of data last year, up 193 percent from 2008, according to a new report from analyst Chetan Sharma. But carrier revenues aren't keeping pace.

Sharma reported that U.S. data traffic exceeded voice traffic by almost 400 terabytes in 2009; he expects that the ratio between the two to double this year. U.S. mobile data services revenues grew at only 24 percent year-over-year, though, and are expected to grow just 20 percent in 2010. And while voice ARPU declined by a substantial 98 cents for U.S. carriers, data ARPU increased by a mere 4 percent to 53 cents as overall ARPU decreased 45 cents on the year. Interestingly, Verizon and AT&T accounted for 88 percent of the increase in data revenues in the fourth quarter of 2009 -- a fact that helps explain why the nation's two largest carriers continue to separate themselves from their competitors.