Minorities To Account For More Than One-Third Of Telecom Spending

Hispanics and other minorities are expected to spend nearly $60 billion on telecommunications services this year, according to a new study.

Insight Research announced Monday that America's ethnic groups will spend $59.8 billion and account for more than one-third of residential telecommunications costs.

Hispanics, who come from diverse nations and cultures, make up 14.8% of the U.S. population. They will spend the most, making them a key to survival of telecommunications providers, according to Insight Research.

"The purchasing power that the Hispanic-American, African-American, and Asian-American communities exert in the telecommunications industry is not being ignored," Robert Rosenberg, of Insight Research, said in a prepared statement. "Yet the cell phone companies that now spend millions of dollars on undifferentiated Spanish-speaking advertising campaigns that blanket the Latino community have missed the boat. The Hispanic community must be addressed with nuanced messaging appropriate to its internal diversity or those cell phone carriers simply won't survive."

Sixty-five percent of Hispanic respondents have cell phones, according to the study. Hispanics' average monthly household spending on mobile phone service was more than 80% higher than the average spending on landline services, Insight Research reported. About 80% of Hispanics who own cell phones have post-paid contracts, the study found.

A 136-page market research report, "US Hispanic Use of Telecommunication Services 2008-2012," also examines U.S. Hispanics' phone use and spending for both wireless and landlines, as well as calling cards, and pre-paid cell phones. It compares the patterns to the general population as well as other groups, including Asian-Americans and African-Americans.