State of the Wireless Industry
From placing a wireless call to sending mass texts, the wireless industry has come a long way in 25 years. The following facts from the CTIA Semi-Annual Wireless Industry Survey provides an up-to-date industry snapshot along with key wireless statistics from the past 25 years covering:

Total wireless subscribers Total wireless minutes of use Text/SMS traffic

Average local monthly bill Total service revenue Total number of cell sites

Industry Revenue & Reach

• Total service revenues reached $143.7 billion in the last 12 months (July 2007 – June 2008), compared to $132.9 billion in the previous 12 months (July 2006 – June 2007).
• The wireless penetration rate in the United States increased to 85% in June 2008, compared to 80% in June 2007.
• Today, more than 150 wireless companies compete to offer services in the United States. 
• The number of cell sites increased by 5% in the twelve months from June 2007 to June 2008 (210,360 to 220,472 sites respectively).
  
  
  

Usage

• There were 262.7 million active wireless subscribers in June 2008, an increase of almost 20 million subscribers during a 12-month period, up from 243 million active subscribers in June 2007.
• Collectively, consumers used 2.2 trillion wireless minutes in the last 12 months (July 2007 – June 2008), a 14% increase compared to the previous 12 months (July 2006 – June 2007).
• The average local monthly bill fell by three percent to $48.54 in June 2008, compared to $49.94 in June 2007.
• In the first half of 2008 (January – June), almost 385 billion text messages were reported – 22 billion more text messages than reported in all of 2007. For June 2008 alone, carriers reported more than 75 billion text messages, up 160% from 28.9 billion messages in June 2007.

Household Trends

• At the end of 2007, 15.8 percent of all households were wireless-only.
• Even with a landline telephone in the home, 13% of households received all or almost all calls on their wireless phones in 2007.