Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Tim Donahue, Chairman of CTIA's board of Directors-

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2003 10:11:30 -0500

Data drives U.S. wireless sector to $141 million subscriber base
By Robert Keenan, CommsDesign.com
Mar 17, 2003 (10:38 PM)
URL: http://www.commsdesign.com/story/OEG20030317S0076

NEW ORLEANS, La. — Despite a struggling economy, the U.S. wireless sector continued to
grow, reaching a
subscriber base worth approximately $141 million by the end of 2002, according to figures
released by CTIA at the
Wireless 2003 conference here.

In the first of its two updates for the year, CTIA provided members with a rosy report on
the status of the
wireless industry. In December 2001, CTIA estimated the U.S. subscriber base was worth
$128 million. By making
the leap to $141 million range in 2002, a 10-percent increase, CTIA President Tom Wheeler
said the wireless
sector is emerging as a bright spot in the U.S. telecommunications market.

An increase in data services could be one of the big reasons for the uptick. "For the last
six months of 2002, the
U.S. wireless industry did almost $50 million in non-voice revenue," said Tim Donahue,
chairman of CTIA's board of
directors and president and CEO of Nextel. "From December 2001 to December 2002, data
revenue grew 33
percent."

Adoption of short message services (SMS) contributed to the growth. CTIA reported that the
amount of SMS
messages reached 1 billion. In June 2001, there were only 30 million SMS sessions. By
hitting the 1 billion mark,
the sector has achieved a 3000-fold increase in one service, Wheeler said.

With data revenues and the number of subscribers increasing, carriers are also starting to
see increases in
minutes of use and average monthly bills. CTIA said the total number of billable minutes
reached 619 billion, up 35
percent from the 456 billion reported in 2001. CTIA also reported that the average monthly
bill rose to $48.40, up
more than $1 from the year before.

CTIA's report, Wireless Industry Indices: 1985-2003, includes data on prepaid and toll
revenues, subscriber usage
and investment.

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