US mobile users wake up to 3G data services

Subscribers in North America generate the highest monthly Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) from mobile data services, new research reveals today.

At $8.90 in the second quarter of this year, according to the September 2007 edition of Informa Telecoms & Media’s World Cellular Data Metrics (WCDM), US mobile users are generating substantially more data revenue than subscribers in Western Europe who generate on average only US$7 per month.

Strong uptake of ‘all-you-can-eat’ data packages, a near three-fold increase in 3G subscriptions year-on-year and rapid growth in SMS traffic in North America were the main reasons for the 43 per cent rise in data ARPU in the region in 2Q07 compared with 2Q06.

According to Informa, AT&T Mobility recorded five million WCDMA subscriptions at the end of June 2007 (compared with just 250,000 a year earlier), taking total 3G subscriptions (WCDMA and EVDO) to over 38 million. The total number of SMS sent in the region more than doubled year-on-year to 93.7 billion in 2Q07, equivalent to 120 per subscription per month.

Total data revenues for North America amounted to US$6.97bn in 2Q07, a 66 per cent year-on-year increase. Total data revenues in Western Europe rose only 35.6 per cent year-on-year, while data ARPU in the region was up 14 per cent to $7 in 2Q07.