Wireless Phone Subscriber Growth Accelerates In 1st Half, CTIA Says

By Joseph Palenchar On Nov 6 2000 - 8:00am

WASHINGTON, D.C .-Computer and consumer electronics manufacturers are blaming wireless phone growth, in part, for creating an electroniccomponent shortage, and the numbers lend credence to their claim.

The U.S. wireless industry posted its best-ever first-half increase in the number of net new subscribers, according to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) semiannual survey of carriers (see table below). The increase also marked the highest percentage gain in first-half net new subscribers since 1994.

The number of net new subscribers rose in the first half to 11 million, up more than 55 percent from the year-ago period. The increase brought the industry's subscriber base to 97 million at the end of June.

For the third consecutive year, the figures show, the percentage gain in first-half net new subscriber growth actually accelerated. Last year's gain was 29 percent, up from 1998's 18 percent and 1997's 5.7%, which was down from the previous year's 9.7 percent.

First-half 2000's percentage gain was the highest since first-half 1994's 61 percent gain.

The CTIA survey also found that the average first-half wireless phone bill rose for the second consecutive year, following a continuous drop since the CTIA began tracking monthly bills in the second half of 1997. Although monthly airtime use by the average subscriber increased 31 percent, the phone-bill increase was just 12.2 percent, to $45.15 from $40.24. Subscribers used the phone an average of 228 minutes per month compared to 174 minutes during the year-ago period.

For the first half, CTIA also estimates that digital subscribers accounted for more than 60 percent of the wireless subscriber base, or 52.9 million, a dramatic increase from the year-ago period's 27.9 million digital subscribers.

Based on the year's growth pattern, CTIA estimates the current subscriber base at more than 104 million people, or 37.8 percent of the U.S. population.

First-half carrier revenue rose 27.3 percent to $24.7 billion, and carriers spent $9.87 billion on capital investment during that time, the statistics show.

For the survey, CTIA received responses from 1,949 of the 2,306 systems operating in the United States. The association estimated statistics for the other systems.