Smartphone Data Revenue Climbs 31 Percent

CTIA's annual survey has found that revenue derived from data plans climbed 31 percent to over $19.4 billion in the first half of 2009, versus the same period a year ago. The CTIA's survey also showed steady growth for wireless subscribers, cell towers, and total revenues. According to the CTIA, however, the average cell-phone bill remained flat with last year, and has basically remained so since June of 2003. In total, there were 276 million wireless users in June 2009, up from 263 million a year ago. All told, the cellular industry raked in more than $75.8 billion for the first six months of 2009, versus $72.7 billion in 2008. CTIA found that more than 246 million data-capable devices are being used, with 40 million smartphones or PDAs and another 10 million 3G cards.