Slower cellphone growth in USA could bring good deals

After years of go-go growth, the number of people signing up for cellphone service in the USA is finally slowing. That could spell good news for consumers as carriers turn up the marketing heat, says Craig Moffett, a senior analyst at Bernstein Research and author of a report documenting the trend. "When operators have no choice but to try to take customers away from each other, they have a natural inclination to sharpen the pencils and make the best offer they can," he says. The wireless industry added 23% fewer subscribers in the first quarter this year than it did last year. The overall growth rate — how fast the total is growing — dropped to 7.9% from 11.5%, and will "slow further from here," the report said. Moffett says carriers are victims of their own success. "The vision of every adult in America having a cellphone is a great aspiration until you get there. Then it raises the obvious question: Now what?" For years, wireless was a story of heady growth. As of year-end 1995, the USA claimed 33.8 million subscribers. By December 2007 the number had jumped to 255.4 million, a sevenfold increase. About 83% of U.S. consumers have at least one cellphone. By 2010, the number will rise to 89%, Bernstein predicts. At that level, Moffett says, everybody who wants a cellphone will already have one.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20080530/cellslow30.art.htm