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History of Wireless Communications
From Building the Wireless Future® to Expanding the Wireless Frontier™
1900's | 2000's
2000
- Wireless subscribership in America exceeds 100 million, totaling approximately 38% of the U.S. population.
- Digital wireless users outnumber analog subscribers.
- The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association™ merges with the
Wireless Data Forum to become the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association™.
2001
- The average wireless consumer uses his or her phone for 320 minutes per month.
- November 8, FCC votes to raise CMRS spectrum limits for individual carriers from 45 MHz to 55 MHz, and subsequently eliminate cap in January 2003.
2002
- Camera phones are first introduced in the U.S. market.
2003
- With the Secondary Markets Order, the FCC creates a “secondary market” which permits licensees to lease any amount of their spectrum.
- October 13 marks the 20th anniversary of commercial wireless communications.
2004
- The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association™ changes its name to CTIA-The Wireless Association™.
- The average wireless consumer uses his or her phone for 584 minutes per month and paid an average local monthly bill of $50.64.
- Congress enacts the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act, creating the Spectrum Relocation Fund to recover the costs associated with relocating radio communication systems from certain bands.
2005
- Spurred by the Hurricane Katrina disaster, the wireless industry, together with the American Red Cross, develops the national Text 2Help Initiative, which allows customers to donate $5 via text message in the event of a major disaster.
- Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 enables Digital TV Transition and directs auctioning of 700 MHz of spectrum licenses. Auction concludes March, 2006, raising almost $19 billion for the U.S. Treasury.
- Subscribership reaches nearly 208 million, which is approximately 69% of the total U.S. population.
- Subscribers use more than 1.5 trillion voice minutes and send and receive more than 81 billion SMS messages.
2007
- iPhone launches, spurring dramatic handset innovation.
2008
- There are more than 270 million wireless subscribers who use more than 2.2 trillion minutes; more than 1 trillion SMS messages are sent and received in the U.S.
- The average wireless consumer uses his or her phone for 708 minutes per month and pay $50.07 in the average local monthly bill.
- iTunes Application Store (July) and Android Market (October) open.
2009
- There are more than 285.6 million U.S. wireless subscriber connections which is approximately 91% of the total U.S. population.
- Wireless subscribers use more than 6.2 billion minutes per day and send and receive more than 5 billion SMS messages per day.
- Palm Software Store (January), BlackBerry App World (April), Nokia Ovi Store (May), Palm App Catalog (June) and Windows Mobile Marketplace (July) app stores open.
2010
- First 4G handset is introduced at International CTIA WIRELESS show.
- After the devastating January earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, a record-breaking $35 million is donated via text message.
- FCC proposes National Broadband Plan, recommending 500MHz of spectrum be allocated for commercial use by 2020.
- In June, President Barack Obama signs a memorandum committing to freeing up 500 MHz of spectrum for the wireless industry.
Last Updated: February 2011
