U.S. consumers spent more on mobile data than on voice for the first time in 2012, an telecommunications group reported, confirming that shifts in how Americans use their phones have reached a long-expected tipping point.
The data point, included in a study released by the Telecommunications Industry of America on Monday, is more than a fun fact about the way Americans use their cellphones, said TIA president Grant Seifert, whose group represents network infrastructure for companies such as Cisco, Ericsson and Nokia. Consumers’ increasing appetites for data have brought to a head debates over how the country should use its wireless spectrum, he said.
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“What this report does is heighten the urgency that we need action,” Seifert said. “We need a clear understanding of what’s going to happen.”
Data consumption is expected to continue outpacing voice service, the study said, and it predicted that spending on mobile data will grow from $92.4 billion in 2012 to $118.6 billion in 2013. Spending on voice services, meanwhile, are expected to fall from $92.4 billion to $86.4 billion in the same period of time.
That’s in line with predictions that smartphone adoption will continue to rise across the globe. In a Monday study, International Data Corporation predicted that 2013 would mark the first time the global sales of smartphones will eclipse the numbers for feature phones, which connect to the Internet but don’t have data-gobbling features such as apps.
In addition to smartphone growth, data consumption also is expected to rise as more devices beyond smartphones, such as Internet-connected household appliances, end up in consumer homes. The TIA study also noted that U.S. mobile connections also outnumber the country’s adult population — something the cell operator industry group, GSMA, has already projected will happen on a global scale sometime this year.
All this growth means that wireless carriers will have to work hard to improve network efficiency, said IDC mobile analyst Ramon Llamas. Wireless carriers in the United States and around the world focused their efforts on upgrading their networks to implement new technologies such as 4G LTE to deal with increasing consumer data demands, and Seifert said that consumers will continue to demand immediate, dependable connections even as that data load increases.
Consumers of a certain age, he said, have come to expect their carriers and phones to do more than simply make phone calls, and he believes manufacturers are recognizing that shift.
“For a lot of the smartphones being released right now, the primary function is to handle data,” he said.
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