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North American carriers lead when it comes to data ARPU

Categories: Research
By: , IntoMobile
Wednesday, October 24th, 2007 at 9:26 AM

Calling and texting may be cheapest in the U.S., but when it comes to data – North American carriers make more money per user than their European counterparts. According to the September 2007 edition of Informa Telecoms & Media‘s World Cellular Data Metrics (WCDM), subscribers in North America generate monthly data ARPU (average revenue per user) of $8.90, compared to $7 in Europe or $4.20 per month on a global scale.

ARPU Chart - zoom here

Apparently, the strong uptake of “all-you-can-eat,” a near three-fold increase in 3G subscriptions from the last year, and rapid growth of SMS usage are the key factors that drove the 43% increase in data ARPU for North American carriers in Q2 2007 compared with the same period last year.

At the end of June 2007, there were more than 38 million subscribers in North America. Total number of SMS sent doubled year-on-year, reaching 93.7 billion in Q2 2007 or 120 messages per subscription per month. Finally, when it comes to money earned, total data revenues in North America amounted to $6.97 billion.

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About The Author

Dusan Belic

Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.