Americans used 9.6 trillion megabytes (MB) of data in 2015, three times the 3.2 trillion MB they used in 2013, according to a survey released today by CTIA (The Wireless Association). This is the equivalent of consumers streaming 59,219 videos every minute or roughly 18 million MB.
The most popular wireless device in the US is the smartphone, with more than 228 million smartphones, which was up almost 10 percent from 2014, according to the survey. 70 percent of the population now owns a smartphone, and there were more than 41 million tablets on wireless networks, up 16 percent from 2014.
Not surprisingly, Americans prefer to communicate with mobile devices:
- Talked more than 2.8 trillion minutes on their mobile phones, up more than 17 percent from 2014.
- Exchanged more than 2.1 trillion texts, videos and photo messages, or more than four million every minute.
America’s wireless carriers invested almost $32 billion in 2015, including adding almost 10,000 new cell sites to accommodate the increase in usage and devices, according to the survey.
“Americans today have mobile-first lives. In 2014, we had a record amount of data on our 4G networks. Remarkably, the amount of traffic on mobile networks more than doubled last year and shows no signs of slowing down,” said Meredith Attwell Baker, President and CEO, CTIA in a prepared statement.
