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Mobile Data Usage Continues To Grow In U.S.

Analyst Chetan Sharma cobbled together some new statistics about mobile data usage. The results show that data services make up an increasingly bigger chunk of wireless network operators' revenues. In all, we spent $5.85 billion on data in the second quarter of 2007.

The second quarter figures are up 7% when compared with the first quarter of 2007, but the really impressive numbers are the half-year figures. Data revenue jumped a whopping 81% in the first half of 2007 when compared with 2006, and hit the $11.35 billion mark.

Numbers are rising across the board. Data ARPU is up at all the major carriers (8% v. 1Q07, 19% v. 4Q06). Perhaps the most interesting nugget of info to come from Sharma's findings is that non-messaging data revenue is making up between 50% and 60% of the data revenue. T-Mobile, for example, reported that 53% ($644 million) of its data revenue came from sources other than messaging applications/services. What those data services were, it didn't say, but it is probably a mix of ringtones, wallpaper, and other downloads, as well as general T-Zones mobile Internet usage.

Verizon Wireless, it seems, is doing better than the other three major carriers at bringing in the data bucks. According to Sharma, 31% of the wireless industry's overall data revenue in the second quarter came from Verizon alone.

It would be nice to see a breakdown of consumer versus enterprise data figures from the carriers. With AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon all offering data cards for laptop use, as well as BlackBerry services, a significant chuck of their non-messaging data revenue has to be coming from the enterprise.

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