Tech Newz

Our friend, Chetan Sharma, who is a member of the GigaOM Pro Analyst Network, has put together the state of the wireless industry for the second quarter of 2009. Here are some of the highlights that show that the demand for wireless data continues to grow despite the current economic downturn. His presentation is below the fold.

* The US Wireless data service revenues grew 7 percent during the quarter to $10.6 billion. That’s a 30 percent gain over data service revenues in Q2 2008.
* Much of the gains were shared by the #1 and #2 US carriers – Verizon and AT&T. Verizon and AT&T saw their revenues increase 8 percent during the quarter followed by T-Mobile who saw its data revenues go up 6 percent.
* US, now is the largest mobile data market ahead of Japan and China. Verizon’s data revenues are close to $4 billion, just shy of NTT DoCoMo. According to Sharma top four US carriers in the top 10 global operators by mobile data service revenues.
* The 3G penetration in the US was around 40 percent during the quarter.

Sharma thinks that despite doubts about the economy, mobile industry is likely to stay on this path of measured growth for remainder of the year. “We estimate that by end of 2009, the US mobile data traffic is likely to exceed 400 petabytes, up 193% from 2008,” he says. “To truly tackle the problem head-on, operators will need to adopt a multi-pronged strategy to manage their traffic more effectively.”

Also, check out Stacey’s wireless scorecard for the Q2 2009 where she discusses the growing popularity of prepaid wireless services and their impact on carrier revenues. Also, GigaOM Pro has published its Mobile second quarter review. (Subscription required.)

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